


The Red Filly

by TraceyLordHaven



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Death Threats, Family Secrets, Friendship, Secrets, Section 31 (Star Trek), protecting those you love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:15:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 23,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24887434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TraceyLordHaven/pseuds/TraceyLordHaven
Summary: If you read "The Art and Practice of Romance," then you remember the Red Filly.  Here's that story.If you haven't read "The Art and Practice ...," I recommend you do so first.  This won't make a lot of sense otherwise.
Relationships: Chakotay/Kathryn Janeway, Kathryn Janeway & Owen Paris, Kathryn Janeway/Justin Tighe, Owen Paris & Edward Janeway
Comments: 19
Kudos: 46





	1. Chapter 1

_**Sometime in 2343** _

Captain Owen Paris elbowed his best friend, Captain Edward Janeway.

“Pay attention, Edward!” he mumbled to his friend, whose eyelids had started drooping.

Captain Janeway took a deep breath and blinked several times. He looked at the podium in the front of the room. The same deadly-dull Vulcan who had started speaking about security algorithms nearly three hours ago was still droning on.

Janeway sighed and leaned over to whisper, “Why are we here again?”

Captain Paris shot him a look, took a deep breath and replied, “Because Captain DH Bryant failed to implement the proper and required minimum security protocols here at Starbase 12 when he took over, and as a result, when he agreed to share astrometric data with the Orions, he made it possible for them to break into all his systems. They then accessed all the secure data collected on the Orion Syndicate finances, ruining two years of work by Starfleet Intelligence to put an end to their illegal slave trade, highlighting the fact that many senior Starfleet officers fail to appreciate the hard work done by Intelligence to secure a safe and prosperous future for all Federation members.”

For a moment, neither said a word.

“Did you read that off of the official meeting notice?” Janeway finally asked.

“As many times as that Commander from Intelligence has recited the story in the last day, I have it committed to memory,” Paris retorted. 

Janeway gave his friend a sidelong look then turned back to the Vulcan.

Edward Janeway’s mind eventually resumed wandering. He wondered if the Vulcans had ever produced an interesting seminar speaker. He felt guilty for wanting to be entertained. Then he admonished himself for feeling guilty – he didn’t want to be entertained, he wanted to be engaged. 

This Vulcan was not an engaging speaker.

Now Janeway thought about home. He would be back on Earth, back in Indiana, in just ten days. Back to Gretchen … he smiled thinking of his wife and the charming little garment he’d bought for her earlier that day at the starbase. Something he would give her the first night home, the first night they’d have together in nearly four months.

After the girls had gone to bed, of course.

Janeway sighed in contentment. The girls. Heaven help him, how did a man like him end up with those two amazing little girls? They were such interesting people. Just about to turn eight, Katie was already so much like him – thank goodness she had such a healthy streak of Gretchen in her. She was going to do amazing things one day. And little Phoebe … wow, her creativity and imagination were stunning. She reminded him so much of his own father, of the facets of John Andrew Janeway’s personality that he never really got to develop until he retired.

Edward Janeway would do anything for this family of his. Anything.

As often happened when he felt his protective side emerging, Janeway’s jaw set. There was so much in the galaxy to protect his family from, and so much that he never wanted them to know. 

As a captain, he saw so much. It was his mission to fight known threats to the Federation. It was the unknown threats that kept him awake at night. And the emerging threats, the possible threats.

Hell, all of it could keep him awake sometimes. But all of it kept also kept him observant.

After several minutes, Janeway shifted in his seat and leaned towards Paris.

“I’ve come across some pretty interesting things recently, particularly regarding Cardassian activities. My files are getting bigger.”

Paris kept watching the Vulcan speaker, giving no reaction to what his friend said. But inside, he sighed. Their “files.”

Both men had, for several years, taken to documenting strange directives, suspicious weapons transfers, odd financial arrangements, etc., that they would come across in the regular business of being a Starfleet Captain. Whenever they would run into each other, they would compare the notes they had gathered in their “files.” Both men were fervent believers in the Federation and all it stood for. But neither Janeway nor Paris was naïve enough to believe that all their colleagues were of the same mind.

In fact, it was during one of their “file talks” that they realized that the Orion Syndicate had modified their regular routes to avoid supposedly-secret Starfleet monitoring stations. They sounded the alarm to their superiors, and the resulting investigation had uncovered DH Bryant’s mistakes. Which, of course, led the two friends to the security seminar they were currently attending.

Now Edward Janeway was saying there were more things to be concerned with – more “files.” Paris pretended to make a couple of notes, then made as though he were asking Janeway a question about what he had just recorded on his padd.

“Your ‘files’ – yellow or red?” he asked quietly.

“Both,” Janeway responded.

At that moment, a slender, blonde woman walked past them towards the front of the room and the podium. She thanked the Vulcan for his presentation, then began making announcements about schedule changes for the rest of the day’s meetings.

Janeway looked toward the woman and said, “That one, for instance, the Commander from Intelligence. Her name has come up a few times, in several communiques. I’ve got a yellow file on her right now.”

Paris looked back to the front. He couldn’t place the woman who was now speaking.

“What’s her name again?”

“Nechayev, Alynna. She was undercover on Bajor for a while, but that ended ten, fifteen years ago. For some reason, I still keep seeing her name associated with many Cardassian issues. Something about it bothers me.”

Paris narrowed his eyes and said, “That planet is going to be trouble for the Federation, sooner or later.”

Janeway looked at Paris and said, with conviction, “I agree.”

“But you think that Commander bears watching?” Paris asked.

“I do,” Janeway affirmed.

“But only a yellow file, not a red file?” Paris continued.

“Not red, not yet,” Janeway said. But then, seeing Nechayev watching Paris and him through narrowed eyes, he added, “However, that could easily change.”

Nechayev cleared her throat and everyone in the room quieted.

“Thank you for your attention during Mr. Sukot’s explanation of the Vulcan Science Academy’s latest developments in encryption standards. Now we will hear from Dr. Mosa Thetell from the Bolarus Security Ministry.”

A short, surprisingly slender Bolian wearing what looked like a old-fashioned tweed jacket approached the podium.

“Good afternoon,” Dr. Thetell said. “Recent events have reminded us all of the need for adequate _**filly**_ encryption.”

Paris and Janeway looked at one another. 

“ _ **Filly**_?” Paris mouthed.

They turned back to the Bolian.

“No organization is any stronger than its ability to keep secrets. _**Whilly**_ the weapons developed by the Federation are formidable, they are no match for knowledge. Unfettered access to information has allowed the _**villy**_ Orion slave trade to escape punishment. So let us discuss ….”

The Bolian spoke for an hour with Paris and Janeway paying close attention - this was a hell of a lot more interesting than the Vulcan. But they weren’t focused on the content of the lecture, they were trying to catch the speaker using more unrecognizable words.

And he did. Words like compilly. Volatilly. Mobilly. Meanwhilly. Hostilly. Exilly. 

What were these words?

The captains got an explanation at dinner that evening. They were speaking with a Lieutenant with Intelligence who was tending to Dr. Thetell.

“Oh, he pronounces all words ending in ‘ile’ like that,” the Lieutenant said. “He visited Earth when he was learning Standard and toured parts of the South American continent. He kept pronouncing ‘Chile’ with a long ‘i’ and as one syllable. He actually ended up offending a few people, so he ended up going overboard the other direction – now he uses ‘illy’ every time he sees that spelling.”

Paris asked, “So when he says ‘compilly’?”

“He means ‘compile,’” the young woman responded.

Janeway and Paris eventually left the dinner and went for drinks. Alcohol made the Bolian’s unusual pronunciation choices seem a lot funnier than they really were. By the time they returned to their rooms (which was long before either sobered up), coming up with new words to butcher in this particular fashion had become the single funniest exercise in the history of the universe for both men. 

Eventually, they slept it off. The conference ended, they returned to their respective ships. They went home to their families. Time passed. Life went on.

And their files continued to grow.

Or, as the guys liked to say, their “fillies.”


	2. Chapter 2

_**Excerpts from “The Art and Practice of Romance,” Chapter 34** _  
_**Admiral Owen Paris telling Admiral Kathryn Janeway and Captain Chakotay about the threat against their lives.** _

_"Owen,” Kathryn said as her eyes narrowed, “where are Chakotay and Voyager being sent?”_

_He sighed and said, “To the same planets he toured with the Titan. To supervise the reinstallation of Cardassian outposts on each planet. I was given this information today. I received a visit from … well, from someone who knew what was going on. He told me everything – the plans for those planets, the plans for Voyager, everything. He knew … he knew I had a special interest in what happens with Voyager, and would have a serious problem with what they are planning to do with it.”_

_“_ _There’s more to this than just putting me on Voyager with Cardassians,” Chakotay said flatly._

_Owen nodded._

_"They’ve already picked your crew for you, Chakotay. Every ex-Maquis from Voyager who is still in Starfleet will be assigned to that mission.”_

_Chakotay asked, “And this is being done for what purpose, exactly? To what end?”_

_Owen looked at him and said simply, “To your end, Captain. And to the end of the remaining Maquis.”_

_Kathryn’s face morphed to her famous death glare._

_“Alynna Nechayev,” she said in a low voice._

_Owen nodded his head. He said, “Yes, this is her doing. She’s been the primary negotiator with the Cardassians in the last year or so. Baker was handling it before he retired – he was the one who initially secured the return of the border planets. Alynna is the one who is willing to give them back.”_

_"Why?” Chakotay asked. “What does the Federation get out of it?”_

_“I don’t know what the Federation gets out of any of it,” Owen said, frustrated. “That’s the thing. There is no benefit to the Federation, only risk. My source seems to think there is some sort of personal motive at work here, but I don’t know what it is.”_

_“Does she think people will just sit by and let her fill Voyager with former Maquis crew and send them into a replenished Cardassian stronghold?” Kathryn asked._

_“No,” Owen replied. He swallowed, then continued in a lifeless voice._

_“What she plans to do is make as much public relations hay as she can out of Voyager as a ‘ship of redemption.’ When you are all assigned, Chakotay, all you will be told is that you are going tour those colonies again. Once you are there, and far away from any Fed News reporters, you will receive orders to begin the transport of Cardassian military units to the colonies. During one of those trips, you will be attacked and boarded, and all the former Maquis will be taken back to Cardassia to stand trial. By the time the Federation gets word of it, your sentences will likely have already been carried out.”_

_Kathryn leaned towards the comm unit and said, “Owen, what you are talking about is murder. Alynna Nechayev is planning to murder all those crewmen and women.”_

_At that, Chakotay got a strange look on his face._

_“Owen, what is this new assignment of Kathryn’s you mentioned?” he asked in a strangled voice._

_Owen looked up at his ceiling, then back at the two on the comm._

_“Kathryn is going to be named the Federation’s liaison to the Dominion. She will receive a three-year assignment to the Gamma Quadrant. About six months after she arrives, she will be kidnapped by an unaligned band of Jem’Hadar Alphas and never heard from again.”_

_Again, the three sat in silence._

_Owen continued, “I don’t have any proof of any of this. The person who came to see me about it, well, he’s in a precarious position. His … mission … is larger than this situation. And he’s under cover, he can’t blow that.”_

_“Section 31?” Chakotay asked._

_“Yes. At least, I think so.”_

_Kathryn sighed and said, “You’re saying we need to find proof.”_

_“No,” Owen said. “I need you to buy me some time. My contact has put me on the trail of something – it might not expose Alynna the way we might want, but it should be able to stop her. I need the two of you, and a few others, to keep her off her game for a day or two while I follow that trail.”_

_“What will you be doing?” Kathryn asked._

_“I will be chasing that lead.”_

*********

**Earlier that day ….**

Admiral Owen Paris was a man with a problem.

At least, he thought he was.

And that was half of the problem right there. *Was* there actually a problem, or was he just looking for a windmill to joust?

He sighed and threw the padd he’d been reading onto his desk, on top of the seven or eight other padds he’s been going back and forth between the last few hours. The last one was a report written by Erick Greene, notorious Alynna Nechayev flunky. It was, perhaps, the most inconsequential report Owen had read in years.

"I've never seen so many words used to say so very little," he'd thought to himself as he finished the document.

And that was check mark on the “yes, there’s a problem” side of things. The report was supposed to be about the distribution of Federation-provided power generator components to various locations on Cardassia Prime. Instead, it read like a tourist brochure. Owen wanted to be able to compare information on the recipients of the materials with lists of known anti-Federation Cardassian operatives and their cover organizations – instead, he was reading laborious details about trade in jewelry-quality jevonite, and the plans to reintroduce gettle herds to areas of the planet south of the Colaxa Plain.

The Federation providing power-generating equipment to a former – and possibly, current – enemy was consequential. Jevonite and gettle weren’t.

Kathryn Janeway had called Owen’s attention to that report about three weeks ago. She had read only its summary, but something about it bothered her. Then she had commed him again just a couple of hours ago about another bizarrely useless report summary by Erick Greene.

Kathryn’s primary complaint to Owen was that despite the time and staff resources supposedly being dedicated to Cardassian recovery post-Dominion occupation, she knew very little of what was actually going on.

“I hate to sound cocky, Owen, but I am an Admiral,” she’d said. “I should know more about what’s happening between the Federation and Cardassia than what my mother can get from a single FedNews broadcast.”

Owen agreed, and he had gotten the “full” reports, such as they were. Then he requested copies of the other reports filed by Greene and Nechayev’s other trusted aides over the last several months. He read and reread eleven different reports, and felt no more informed about the Cardassian situation than … well, than Gretchen Janeway.

“Admiral Paris, may I come in?”

Owen was stunned to see the main object of his ire, Erick Greene, in his doorway. The Commander didn’t wait for an answer, he came in, shut the door behind him, and went to stand in front of Owen’s desk.

“I am sorry to bother you while you are busy …” and his voice trailed off as he eyed the padds on the desk. He picked up the one containing his most recent report.

He looked at Owen and wryly said, “I didn’t know you enjoyed reading fiction, Admiral.”

Having regained his senses, Owen raised his eyebrows and said, “Actually, I prefer non-fiction. I just have found it very hard to get my hands on recently.”

“And maybe not so recently,” Greene responded, taking a seat. “In fact, Admiral, you might be amazed by how much fiction disguised as intelligence has made it across your desk in the last few years.”

Owen also took a seat and said, “You sound like a man who knows a great deal about it”

Greene leaned forward and said, “I have things to share with you, and I will only do it this once. You are free to pursue whatever you want, but my name must be left out of any public statements or proceedings. I will not communicate with you about this again after tonight – and if I see you in public or at any resulting hearings, I will not acknowledge you as anything other than an annoyance. Do you understand?”

Owen nodded.

“Admiral,” Greene said, “you have a problem.”


	3. Chapter 3

**_Excerpts from “The Art and Practice of Romance,” Chapter 24  
_ ** _**A recounting of a conversation Admiral Owen Paris had with Admiral Kathryn Janeway after asking Commander Erick Greene to leave a Voyager event.** _

_After Commander Erick Greene slunk off, Kathryn and Owen spent a few moments comparing notes on Nechayev’s slimy aide. The two appeared to be of the same mind when it came to him, and his boss._

_"I don't know why he thinks I might be even remotely interested in him," Kathryn said._

_"Well, I think Alynna has pushed him towards you. She likes him a lot. And to be totally honest, he has done some good work. Did you know he was a Ranger?"_

_"Him?" Kathryn asked wide-eyed. "THAT guy was a ranger? Are you serious?"_

_"I am," Owen replied. "In fact, he was in the class only four years behind Justin. Of course, a lot of his service in that capacity has been kept quiet. He was undercover on a number of missions, he seems to have the personality for that type of work."_

_"Undercover? Yeah, I guess I can see that," Kathryn said. "He's such an ass, though. Is that his actual personality or an act?"_

_Owen chuckled and said, "Probably a little of both. He behaves the way Alynna expects him to. He's been assigned to her for nearly six years, and they very much feed off of each other."_

_"Huh. Maybe it's the undercover part. Officers who specialize in that become such chameleons. Even though I know they are doing it for Starfleet, and usually in very dangerous circumstances, I find them all to be very … I don't know. Untrustworthy."_

_"That's not particularly fair of you, Katie," Owen admonished. "Look, I get that he's a jerk - I am pretty sure I made my feelings clear to him. And I was serious that he needs to let the whole Maquis thing go. But he's done some good work."_

_Kathryn waved her hand in dismissal and said, "Let's talk about something else, please."_

*********

Owen Paris had talked with Erick Greene in his office for nearly two hours. The information Greene shared with him was stunning. Nechayev was basically planning to murder the heroes of the Delta Quadrant.

Greene couldn’t tell him why, which was infuriating. In fact, he seemed to think that Owen might be in a better position to answer that question.

“How the hell would I know anything about it?” Owen had angrily asked Commander Greene.

Greene had only shaken his head and replied, “Someone close to you has information, that’s all I know. I don’t know who it is or what they know. I don’t think Nechayev even knows specifically, I think she would have told me if she did. But she is afraid of … something. And it has to do with someone close to you.”

Owen rolled his eyes and sarcastically replied, “That’s as clear as damned mud.”

Greene didn’t respond.

“Okay,” Owen said, “here’s something you ought to be able to tell me. Why are you here? Why are you telling me any of this?”

Greene sighed and leaned back in his chair. He was quiet for a moment, as if in thought. Then he set his jaw and looked directly at the Admiral.

“I am a member of Section 31. I was recruited right out of the Rangers. I am one of four operatives assigned to Alynna Nechayev in order to unravel her relationship with Cardassia – one of those operatives has been on Cardassia for three years. I cannot tell you the identities or locations of the other two, as I do not know myself.”

Owen stared at Greene – this smarmy jerk, a guy whose boorish behavior around Kathryn Janeway made him seem as clueless as a pubescent boy, was Section 31? 

Now that he had admitted the truth, though, Greene relaxed a little. He grinned Owen and asked, “Trying to figure out who I am, huh? Patriot or weasel? Brave, self-sacrificing agent or lecherous creep?”

“Something like that,” Owen replied slowly.

Greene shook his head and said, “How about neither? I am a man who was asked to serve in a certain capacity to protect the same Federation you are sworn to protect. I have to play a certain role to do that. It’s not who I am, it’s my job.”

He sounded tired saying it. As Owen stared at Greene a little while longer, it occurred to him the younger man looked as tired as he sounded. 

Then Owen asked “Why are *you* the one meeting with me? Why am I not hearing this from your handler, or one of the senior officers at 31? I've worked with a few of them over the years, I've never been approached like this, never would have expected to be approached here at HQ. Especially since Alynna could have easily seen you come over here - isn't this risky, even for Section 31?”

Greene suddenly looked a little … uncertain.

“I am here because you need to know,” he replied, though his voice now lacked the conviction it had held before.

Owen’s eyes narrowed and he replied, “You don’t sound very sure of yourself.”

The two sat in silence for a little while longer. Then Owen took a deep breath and leaned forward on his desk.

“They don’t know you are here, do they? You aren’t telling me any of this because you were ordered to, you are telling me this on your own. What the hell are you doing, Greene?”

Greene looked up – there was determination in his eyes.

“I am trying to do the right thing. No, they don’t know I am here. I asked them – begged them, even – to intervene. My superiors believe that if we let this plan go further, then Nechayev’s Cardassian contacts will finally be fully exposed. That’s all they want – and they want it more than they want to keep the crew of Voyager safe.”

Greene stood and walked to one of the windows in Paris’s office.

“I’ve seen a lot of death as a Ranger, Admiral,” he said in a tired voice. “These last few years, I have gotten to know Alynna Nechayev’s record pretty well. She’s caused a lot of death. Good officers, innocent people, have been sacrificed, and we still don’t know why. I haven’t been able to stop a lot of it. But I can try to stop what she’s got planned for the Voyagers.”

He turned to look once more at the Admiral.

"Despite appearances to the contrary, I actually hold Admiral Janeway and Captain Chakotay in very high esteem. Section 31 asked me to play a part, and I have been doing that. Admiral Nechayev expects certain things of me, also, and to maintain my cover, I do them."

He walked over to Owen's desk and laid his hands on the surface, leaning forward.

"Captain Chakotay and the Maquis … they saved someone. Someone I care a great deal about. That's all I can say. But I owe them. They don't know it, but I do. And I cannot sit and allow Nechayev's plans for them to come to fruition."

With that, Greene returned to his chair.

Owen Paris looked at the stack of padds on his desk and sighed.

"Tell me again *why* you think someone I know has something I can use," he asked.

Greene's brow furrowed as he replied, "I think it has to do with Janeway."

"Katie?" Owen asked. "Kathryn Janeway knows something?"

Greene shook his head and said, "No, I don’t think so. Nechayev's been after me to get something going with her for months. She wanted me to seduce Admiral Janeway, see if she might know anything. But I never got the sense Nechayev viewed her as a direct threat.”

“You’ve been trying to seduce Kathryn Janeway?” Owen asked with raised eyebrows.

Greene chuckled and said, “Yeah, well. It’s actually pretty difficult to behave in a way that appears to be a genuine attempt at flirtation, but is actually a desperate attempt to repel.”

Owen also chuckled and said, “You’re good at the repelling.”

“Thanks,” Greene responded wryly. “Captain Chakotay’s courtship of the lovely Admiral ….”

“Wait,” Owen interrupted, “How do you know about their courtship?”

Greene shot Admiral Paris a look.

“Section 31, of course, what was I thinking,” Owen responded tiredly. “You were saying …?”

“Captain Chakotay’s courtship of Kathryn Janeway took some of the pressure off of me. Nechayev may despise the relationship, but she knows I can’t compete with it. But it’s also spurred her into acting. Which is why we are where we are now.”

Owen ran his hands over his face and said, “Which is nowhere, at least from my perspective. You have *got* to think, Greene, is there anything else she has said that could give me an idea of what to look for?”

Commander Greene sat for a moment, lost in thought.

Then he said, “I have no reason to say this – Nechayev has never said anything directly to me about this. But I get the sense that her main issue with Kathryn Janeway is actually Edward Janeway. I really get the feeling hates him. She has a … a weird fascination with the daughter but hates the father."

"Edward's been dead for more than 20 years," Owen retorted.

"I know," Greene replied, "but she hated him then and hates him still, I don't know why. She seemed to have turned that hatred into some sort of obsession with Kathryn Janeway, but now even that has morphed into hatred.”

Owen sat in silence as he considered that odd claim.

Then Greene continued, "Nechayev actually has another strange obsession, one with Justin Tighe, Admiral Janeway's former fiancé. She invokes his name just about any time she brings up either Janeway with me. I think Tighe might be why she has wanted me to pursue the Admiral, I think she believes my past as a Ranger will somehow give me an 'in.' I never believed that, of course, but I couldn't tell her so -- following her every whim is part of my cover."

"Edward and Justin," Owen mused. Both men had been long dead. Nechayev had an obsession with both of them. And now she was going to destroy not only Kathryn's life, but the lives of dozens of her friends and loved ones.

Still …. Owen felt the tiniest ember of a thought spark in his mind. He needed to pursue it.

He shook his head and said, "Commander Greene, I understand the risk you took coming to me with this. And I believe you when you say you want to save the crew of Voyager. I hope you understand, though, that in order to make that happen, *I* am going to have to pursue this through other channels. I am going to have to do some digging, and I will have to take all of these concerns to your superiors at Section 31. I don't know what kind of trouble that's going to create for you, but I have to believe there will be some."

Erick Greene nodded and said, "I understand. I never thought you wouldn't take this up the chain of command, I knew what I was doing. But you are powerful enough that you can force their hands. I am not."

Greene stood and said, "I hope you are able to force Section 31’s hand better than I. I might end up seeing you there in the next day or so. If see you elsewhere, thought, please remember I will be the Erick Greene you knew of earlier today. Jackass and toady."

Owen stood and reached to shake Greene's hand.

"I understand. And since I probably won't get to say it later, I'll say it now. Thank you for this information, and thank you for your sacrifice."

When Greene left, Owen sat back down at his desk and opened a secure comm line.

“Admiral Owen Paris to Admiral Kevin Liu.”


	4. Chapter 4

Owen had not been able to get in to see Admiral Kevin Liu as quickly as he’d wanted. But he couldn’t let what he had learned lie, either. He needed to warn people.

He could talk to Tom and B’Elanna that night, they were coming to the house. But how to get to Kathryn …?

Then he remembered the story Tom told him about the Voyagers’ “leola root” code. Owen commed Kathryn and Chakotay at Gretchen’s home in Indiana and scheduled another conversation an hour after.

He hadn’t enjoyed telling them what he’d learned. Seeing Kathryn’s face go pale when she realized the lives of people she loved – of the man she loved – were at stake had been a hard thing. And all Owen could do was think of the promises he and Edward Janeway had made to each other when they both started families, that if anything even happened to either of them, the surviving friend would protect the other’s family.

Something of that promise to Edward was fueling Owen’s anger as he spat accusations at Kevin Liu.

If Admiral Liu, head of Section 31, was pissed off that one of his agents had gone off on his own and spilled classified information to a Starfleet Admiral, he wasn’t showing it.

Owen Paris had to admire the man’s restraint. In Liu’s position, Paris might have yelled or thrown a few things, or ordered the loose-lipped agent be brought up on charges.

But Liu just sat at his desk in his antiseptic, non-personalized office and looked at Paris contemplatively.

“So,” Paris said after a few seconds of silence, “are you going to take any action on this or do I need to get the rest of Starfleet involved?”

Liu nodded – it was more than a response to Paris’s threat, it appeared to be acceptance of this new reality. An hour ago, he was patiently playing the long game when it came to Alynna Nechayev. That was no longer possible. So he would adjust.

“Obviously, we would prefer that this not become an issue to be handled in hallway gossip,” Liu conceded. “I would have preferred more time to handle Nechayev, but this unfortunate development means we will alter our timeline.”

“Unfortunate that she intends to kill my son, my daughter-in-law, Kathryn Janeway, and dozens of others? Or unfortunate that I found out and am in your office demanding that you put a stop to it?” Paris asked sharply.

Liu did not answer that question – instead, he asked one of his own.

“Did Commander Greene give you any indication of why he chose to approach you about this?”

Paris rolled his eyes. This was how Section 31 operated, they never answered questions, they just asked them.

“Greene felt that you were not going to act to save the Voyager crew. He came to me because he knew I would take action,” Paris replied.

Liu nodded silently. 

Paris waited.

Finally, Liu said, “Yes, Alynna Nechayev has made some decisions regarding many of the former crew of Voyager, including your son. Yes, there has been Cardassian involvement in those decisions.”

More silence.

Paris was now officially *over* this taciturn Section 31 crap. He stood up and slammed his hands forcefully onto Liu’s desk and demanded, “What the hell are you going to do about it, Kevin? You’d damned well better have a plan, and if you don’t share it with me *right now*, my next stop will be the office of the President of the Federation, and I will have a FedNews crew with me.”

Liu brought his hands together, tapping his index fingers together in an irregular rhythm. It was the first indication of any kind of stress Paris had seen in the man.

“Sit down, please, Owen,” Liu said with a sigh.

Owen took his seat but kept his arms crossed in a defiant posture.

“Let me tell you the things we do know,” Liu began. “We know Nechayev’s made the arrangements for Captain Chakotay, Commander Paris and Commander Torres, and the other former Maquis to be assigned to Voyager for the trip to the border colonies. We know that she has already made arrangements for Cardassia to station personnel on those colonies, and that Voyager will be expected to transport those personnel. We also know that she plans to provide Voyager’s shield frequencies to her contacts.”

Liu stood up and started walking around his office.

“We know that Cardassia plans to ambush Voyager during their second or third transport – it probably will depend on which trip will allow them to get the greatest number of Obsidian Order operatives on board. Two cloaked ships will surprise them. The ships will bring down Voyager’s shields long enough to transport weapons onto the ship for the Cardassians already on board.”

He stopped and turned to Paris.

“We do not know, however, that Alynna is aware of Cardassia’s plan to try and execute the crew.”

Now Paris was confused.

“Wait,” he said, “you’re saying Alynna is planning all of these things for Tom, B’Elanna, and the rest of the Maquis, but she doesn’t know where it will lead?”

“The communiques we have intercepted would make it seem that way,” Liu replied. “In fact, the Obsidian Order appears to be going far out of it’s way to give her the opportunity for plausible deniability. They have only secured her cooperation in getting the Maquis into their possession, they have said nothing to her about their trials or executions.”

“What about sending Katie to the Gamma Quadrant?” Owen asked.

“The same deal,” Liu responded. “Nechayev set wheels in motion, but she seems blissfully ignorant to the consequences.”

Owen shook his head and said, “This doesn’t make sense, Greene told me ….”

“Commander Greene had knowledge of the Obsidian Order’s plans, we discussed them at his last debriefing,” Liu interrupted. “He also knew that Nechayev was not privy to the same information.”

“Then why did he tell me otherwise?”

Liu shrugged as he returned to his chair and said, “I assume he wanted to be sure he could get you to act. The more dire and immediate the threat posed by Alynna Nchayev, the likelier you were to do something. Which you did – you are here talking to me, forcing me to deal with this sooner than I would like. I’d say his plan worked.”

Owen had a hard time understanding why Greene would mislead him like this. The true nature of Nechyev’s plans would have been enough to light the fire burning under him now. Wouldn’t they?

“I guess Greene is a bigger fan of the Voyager crew than I thought, to risk such an exaggeration” Paris mumbled.

“Perhaps,” Liu said.

Owen looked up at him and responded, “Greene said that the Maquis saved someone he cared about ….”

Liu’s raised eyebrow was his only response.

After a few moments of silence, Liu took a breath and began speaking again.

“I am sure Greene also told you that we suspect you might know someone who can help us unravel this whole thing.”

Owen nodded and replied, “Yes, but I have no idea who or how. Commander Greene said he thought it might have to do with the Janeway family.”

“Yes, Edward Janeway,” Liu affirmed. 

Still baffled, Owen said, “How? And how would I know anything about it?”

Liu smiled a little and said, “Admiral Paris, you must know that Section 31 knows about your files. The ones you and Janeway had, your yellow and red files.”

The files.

“Damn,” Owen thought. To Liu he said, “What about them?”

“We have reason to believe that Edward Janeway might have had a red file on Nechayev, and that it might contain information explaining her links to the Obsidian Order,” Liu replied.

When Owen said nothing in response, Liu added, “And we are hopeful that you, as his best friend, would know how to locate it.”

Owen finally said, slowly, “I don’t know how he stored his files. We never discussed it. But ….”

“…. But you might have a few ideas of how to locate it, no matter what the medium is,” Liu added.

“Yeah, maybe,” Owen mumbled.

And he did have an idea. Katie Janeway wasn’t going to like it one bit, but if Edward had a red file on Nechayev, he knew where to start – and with whom.

“Damn,” he thought for a second time, “Edward kept a red file on Alynna Nechayev.”

And before he could stop himself, he ginned just a little and thought, “A red filly.”

*****

**_Excerpts from “The Art and Practice of Romance,” Chapter 35_ **

**_Where those interested in stopping Nechayev’s plans are gathering_ **

_“I understand you have a group meeting on the Enterprise in a few hours?” he asked, not bothering with a greeting._

_Kathryn nodded in the affirmative while Chakotay went to make coffee._

_“Good,” Owen replied. Then he paused as if in thought and said, “Katie, I need to ask you to do something. I need you to bring your mother to that meeting.”_

_“My mother?” Kathryn asked, surprised. “Owen, I haven’t told her about this, yet, I wanted to wait until we had a better idea of what we would be able to do.”_

_Owen nodded and said, “I know, and I would completely endorse that approach, except … except I need to ask her a few questions. Gretchen actually might have some information we need. I can’t be any more specific than that, I’m sorry. Can you get her to the Enterprise with you?”_

_Kathryn ran her hand through her hair. She didn’t like this at all. She turned to see Chakotay approaching with the coffee, the frown on his face showing that he had heard Owen’s request._

_“I wouldn’t ask you this if I didn’t believe it would make a difference,” Owen offered._

_“She’ll be safe?” Chakotay asked as he handed Kathryn a mug_

_“Absolutely,” Owen replied. “We don’t need her to do anything, I just need to ask her a couple of questions.”_

_“What questions?” Kathryn asked with narrowed eyes._

_Owen sighed in response and said, “I’ll explain when I see you. Just, please, bring Gretchen.”_

**_(later that day)_ **

_Owen spotted Gretchen and said, “Good, you came. I need to ask you a few questions, could you …” but he was interrupted by the very woman he was speaking to._

_"No, Owen,” Gretchen said, her affable smile replaced by a steely glare. “I’m not answering any questions until you explain to me why Alynna Nechayev is trying to kill my daughter and her friends.”_

_Paris looked at the man who came in with him and held his hands up as if in defeat. That man stepped forward and looked at Gretchen._

_“Mrs. Janeway, my name is Kevin Liu. I lead an organization known as Section 31. Please, have a seat.”_

_Gretchen knew what Section 31 was – if this man truly was in charge of it, then he would be able to answer some questions. She took a seat at the table, as did everyone else._

_Liu had also taken a seat. He leaned back in his chair and surveyed the room, his eyes landing again on Gretchen._

_“Mrs. Janeway, as best we can tell, Admiral Nechayev has no plans to kill anyone,” he said._

_B’Elanna swore and Tom yelled, “Dad, what the hell?” Everyone started talking at once._

_Admiral Liu used his fist to bang the conference table and bring everyone back to order._

_“Your father wasn’t wrong, Mr. Paris,” Liu said._

**_(later that day)_ **

_Chakotay turned to Owen and asked, "By the way, why did your contact tell you Admiral Nechayev planned to kill all of us, if that wasn't her intention?"_

_Owen rolled his eyes and said, "Apparently, even the calm, cool agents of Section 31 can jump the gun. My contact knew what Nechayev was planning, and when he found out what the Cardassians were planning, he assumed she knew and was behind all of it. When he couldn't reach Admiral Liu, he came to me. He was wrong, but it probably worked out for the best. I don't know that Section 31 would have been willing to act if I hadn't started raising hell."_


	5. Chapter 5

The group gathered on the Enterprise had been going over every angle they could identify related to the news Owen Paris had given them the previous night. Nechayev. Cardassia. The border planets. The Maquis. Starfleet.

They had been able to identify some surprising patterns of behavior from Alynna Nechayev. Whenever there was any kind of Cardassian situation that caught the Federation’s attention, Nechyev almost always had been able to finagle her way into the conversations. Her public stances were consistent – in the media and at public events, she advocated strict adherence to the armistice of 2367 and the treaty of 2370. Her behind-the-scenes movements, though, were hard to understand.

At one point, she would act in such a way as to thwart Cardassian offensive movement. The disastrous raid on Celtris III, the event which led to Jean-Luc Picard’s imprisonment and torture by Gul Madred, had apparently been a genuine attempt to keep Cardassia from developing metagenic weapons. At the same time, the group appeared to find evidence that Nechayev had supplied tactical information about Maquis activity directly to operatives in the Obsidian Order, something that should have gotten her into a lot of trouble but didn’t.

There was no rhyme or reason to the behaviors the group was tracking.

After an hour of discussion, no one felt any closer to identifying anything that could be used against Nechayev to prevent the plans for Voyager and her former Maquis crew from happening.

*****

**_Excerpts from “The Art and Practice of Romance,” Chapter 35_ **

_“I’m afraid I have a hard time believing Admiral Nechayev is that much of a traitor,” Jean-Luc finally said with a sigh. “I have had my differences with her, everyone is aware of that. But I never would have imagined she would betray the Federation like this.”_

_“Yes,” Liu replied, “it’s very surprising. And it’s unexplained. This is why we haven’t been able to act on what we know about her plans because we don’t know *why* it’s happening. There is a very large piece of the puzzle missing. Section 31 had been content to try and figure this out following a much longer timeline, but these developments have pushed us to act. That’s why we are meeting now.”_

_Admiral Liu looked at Owen Paris and nodded. Owen stood up and walked towards Gretchen._

_“And that’s why I asked for you to be here today,” he said, looking at his old friend, the widow of his long-gone best friend._

_Gretchen shook her head a little and replied, “I have no idea what I can do for you, Owen, but I will answer any questions you have.”_

_Chakotay rose and motioned for Owen to take his seat. The admiral sat down and looked earnestly at Gretchen._

_“I need you to think back,” he said to her. “Think back to conversations you had with Edward.”_

_“Daddy?” Kathryn asked, surprised._

_“Your father was one of the first officers to notice odd patterns in Alynna Nechayev’s activities,” Liu said quietly._

_Owen continued, “Gretchen, he wouldn’t have said anything specific about his suspicions. But do you remember him saying anything about any evidence he had collected about her, or maybe just about a member of Starfleet?”_

_Gretchen looked away for a moment, lost in thought. Then she blinked and looked back at Owen._

_“Owen, no … I’m sorry,” she said miserably._

_Owen looked back at Liu, who was staring at Kathryn’s mother._

_“Mrs. Janeway, did your husband keep separate records? Electronic records or files, or even images?” Liu asked._

_Gretchen looked stricken and said, “Not that I remember … oh, Katie!” She turned to her daughter and took her hand._

_“It’s okay, mom, if Daddy never told you anything, that’s fine,” Kathryn said reassuringly. She then shot a look of annoyance at Owen Paris._

_Owen stood up and paced for a minute. Then he stopped and walked back to Gretchen’s side._

_“What about a ‘red file,’ Gretchen? Did he ever say anything about that?” he asked._

_Gretchen stared at Owen Paris._

_“A ‘red file,’” she repeated slowly, looking back down at her hands._

_The room was tense and silent._

_“Or maybe he said a ‘red filly,’” Owen added._

_Gretchen then looked up sharply at Owen._

_“A ‘red filly’?” she asked him. Owen nodded in return._

_Gretchen stood to face him and said, “You know, not long before he died, Edward said the strangest thing to me – and repeated it right before he and Katie and Justin left that last time. He said ‘If Owen ever asks you about a red filly, tell him to go back to Whiskey River.’ I thought it referred to some girl the two of you chased before you met me and Julia – but is that what you are looking for now?”_

_Owen’s smile doubled in size, and he grabbed Gretchen and hugged her. He looked at Admiral Liu and said, “That’s it.”_

_“Okay, Dad,” Tom said slowly. “Where does ‘Whiskey River’ come into it? What is that, code for getting drunk?”_

_Smiling proudly, Owen replied, “The night after I was given the Al-Batani, Edward and a couple of our friends from the Academy took me to dinner in celebration – and the night ended with the four of us in a karaoke bar singing ‘Whiskey River.’”_

_Several people in the room chuckled – Tom put his head in his hands._

_“I’m sorry, what does all of that mean?” Gretchen asked in irritation._

_Owen sat next to her again and took her hand._

_“Gretchen, I’m sorry. Back then, there was still a lot of plotting and sub-plotting in Starfleet. Edward and I used to refer to our ‘red files’ when discussing activities we had observed that we thought represented a threat to the Federation. If Edward had collected something about Alynna Nechayev, he would have put it in a ‘red file.’ But he wouldn’t have come right out and told me or anyone else where it was. The message he gave you, though, could only be understood by me, and it would be the only way I could find that file if I needed it. Which I do – we do.”_

_“You are going to go back into his logs for that time?” Liu asked._

_“Yes,” Owen replied. “I’ll need his official and personal logs for the last week of March, 2357. Captain Picard, I am sure the Enterprise can link up with those logs, could you ….”_

_“No!” Kathryn suddenly said._

_“If Daddy collected something that important,” she said energetically, “he wouldn’t have put any reference to it in his audio logs. That was one of the things he used to tell me, audio logs can be tampered with. You need to come with us to Indiana, Owen. We need to get Daddy’s handwritten logs. That’s the only place he would have left a message for you.”_

_Gretchen looked at Owen and said, “She’s right.”_

_Owen looked at Admiral Liu. The Admiral stood and said, “Go. Now.”_

_*****_

_Gretchen called out, “Found it!” She handed an open journal to Owen._

_Owen flipped a couple of pages until he found one that included the entry for his celebratory dinner. Owen read it quickly, then read it again. He looked confused._

_“I don’t see anything,” he said despondently._

_Chakotay leaned over to look at the booklet, and he pointed to the lower corner of the page._

_“Is that something written in pencil?” he said. “Upside down?”_

_Owen turned the journal over and squinted to get a good look at the words._

_“Owen,” he read slowly. “If you are seeing this, then you need to know one thing. My father always told me to remember that ‘All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.’ Your friend, EJ.”_

_He looked up blankly and said, “I don’t know what that means.”_

_But Kathryn and Chakotay did._

_“Tolkien,” they said simultaneously._

_*****_

_When they got to his apartment, Chakotay took the Tolkien books from their box and he and Kathryn began flipping through the pages._

_Owen stopped them, though, and said, “Let me try this.” He took out a tricorder and began scanning the books and the box._

_He slowed down when scanning the leather-bound box._

_“It’s in here,” he said, and he picked up the box. He looked closely at the inside bottom, then began picking at the edge of the leather lining the bottom. The edge came up a little, so he pinched it with his thumb and forefinger to pull it up. The entire bottom lining came out. Something was affixed to the newly exposed side of the lining._

_Something red._

_Owen gently pried it from the leather. It was a small, red data chip._

_“The ‘red filly’?” Chakotay asked softly._

_“I think so,” Owen replied. He picked his tricorder back up and inserted the chip in the primary data port._

_A menu came up. One file, apparently a video file, was called “Confessions.” The other, a data file, was called “EVLA.” Owen tried opening each file, but his tricorder gave him an error message._

_Frustrated, he turned to Chakotay and said, “Captain, can I use your computer?”_

_Chakotay showed him to the primary terminal, and Owen once again inserted the chip into a data port._

_“Computer,” he said, “display menu from the data chip in the main port.”_

_The display on Chakotay’s computer showed the same menu that the tricorder display had._

_Owen then said, “Computer, play video file named ‘Confessions.’”_

_The computer replied, “Unable to comply. Data storage device has degraded beyond the point of readability.”_

_“Damn,” Kathryn muttered. “Try the other file.”_

_“Computer, display contents of file ‘EVLA,’” Owen said._

_The computer once again said, “Unable to comply. All information on data storage device is degraded beyond the point of readability.”_

_Kathryn and Chakotay looked at one another miserably._

_“Where do we go from here,” Chakotay asked._

_“I don’t know,” Kathryn replied with emotion. “But apparently we can’t do anything with what Daddy tried to leave us.”_

_Owen was still staring at the menu._

_“I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” he said._

*****

Owen arrived at the Daystrom Institute a few minutes after leaving Chakotay’s San Francisco apartment. He had the red data chip and the tricorder he’s used to try and read the chip with him.

Admiral Liu was waiting for him.

“You have it?” he asked Paris as they walked to one of the Institute’s laboratories.

Paris help up the toolbag he was carrying.

Liu nodded and asked, “Did you have any trouble?”

Paris sighed and said, “No, it worked like a charm. The minute I put the chip in this tricorder, it made a record of everything on it and then ‘damaged’ the saved files on the chip so they couldn’t be read. I tested the chip on Chakotay’s terminal, it stated the files couldn’t be read. I told Katie and Chakotay I was coming here to see if anything could be salvaged. All your team has to do is decrypt Edward’s files saved to the tricorder.”

Liu nodded and replied, “Thank you, we need to see what’s there before anyone else. I know you don’t like this, Owen, but ….”

Owen stopped in the middle of the hallway.

“I *hate* this,” he snapped. “I cannot stand lying to Katie and Chakotay, never mind Gretchen and Tom and B’Elanna, and all of them. The one and only reason I agreed to it was because of your promise.”

“That Section 31 will see to it that Nechayev is eliminated before anyone from Voyager is put at risk,” Liu answered grimly.

“And what else?” Paris demanded.

“That you get to see what is on the file, and you will make a decision whether or not to show it to Kathryn Janeway,” Liu said.

“That’s right,” Paris replied. “Now let’s go see what is on this damned thing.”


	6. Chapter 6

**_Excerpts from “The Art and Practice of Romance,” Chapter 35_ **

_It was early afternoon when Kathryn and Chakotay returned to the Enterprise Observation Lounge. The rest of the group were still there, with the exception of Beverly who was still seeing to Gretchen’s needs. They had spent the day reviewing available files about Admiral Nechayev and her suspected Cardassian connections for any kind of evidence they could use, to little avail. The only conclusion they could draw was what Admiral Liu had already told them - there was some other major factor influencing Nechayev’s decisions._

_"It's obvious," Tom said. "The only thing that makes any of her last two or three decades of decisions make sense is that there is someone on Cardassia who is directing her. To what end, we don’t know."_

_"We can't tell who it is, though," Harry added. "There's definitely an Obsidian Order connection, but we can't identify an individual."_

_Kathryn sighed and said "I don't think we need to concentrate too much on the 'why's' of all of this - that's Admiral Liu's concern. Our immediate concern is to stop her by tomorrow morning."_

_Deanna Riker spoke up and said, "I don't think we should wait until tomorrow. In fact, I think it is critical we move tonight."_

_*****_

_“Where is Owen, by the way?” B’Elanna asked._

_“He took the data chip to someone he knows at the Daystrom Institute to see if they could reconstruct it,” Kathryn said._

_Tom rose and said, “I’ll comm him, let him know to meet us at this admiralty party.”_

_“Wait, Tom,” Chakotay said, holding up a hand. He turned to Kathryn and asked, “We can’t assume he’s going to be successful getting anything off that chip. We need a back-up plan.”_

_Kathryn smiled a little and replied, “Well, Handsome Man, I’ve been thinking about that ….”_

\------------

Owen was getting frustrated at Daystrom. The techs from Section 31 had been working on the files he’d uploaded to the tricorder for nearly an hour and still couldn’t access them.

“I thought you said they wouldn’t be damaged in the transfer,” he said angrily to Admiral Liu.

“As best we can tell, they weren’t,” Liu replied tersely. “They appear to be intact. And they appear to be encrypted.”

“Then decrypt them,” Owen demanded. “Edward did this twenty years ago, the encryption must be something you’ve handled before.”

“Apparently not,” Liu sighed.

At that moment, the door to the lab opened and Erick Greene came in.

“Reporting as requested, Admiral Liu,” he said. Then, turning to Owen, he said, “Admiral Paris, there is a comm for you from the Enterprise, I believe it is your son.”

“Thank you,” Owen said, and he went to the office at the back of the lab and turned on the comm.

“Dad,” Tom said, “you need to get whatever you can from that chip, it looks like we are going to make a move tonight.”

“Tonight?” Owen asked in surprise.

“Yeah, Counsellor Riker thinks we’d have an advantage if we caught Nechayev off-guard, that the committee meetings tomorrow will be too much her own turf. There’s apparently some admiralty dinner that she’ll be attending, she won’t expect to be confronted there.”

Owen took a deep breath and replied, “The admiralty dinner! Damn, that’s a good idea, I should have remembered it. That room will be full of people who we could get on our side.”

“Yeah, Hayes, in particular, will find all of this interesting.”

Owen nodded.

“How are things coming with the chip? Any luck repairing the damage?”

“No,” Owen said with a glance at the lab where Section 31 techs were working with the undamaged-but-encrypted data files. 

Tom looked to the side and said, “Kathryn had some ideas about bluffing Nechayev. I think, though, that any bluff attempt would have a greater chance of success if we have something *real* mixed up in it. Anything you could get off that chip could be helpful.”

“Is Katie nearby?” Owen asked.

“No, she’s going over some old mission logs with Captain Picard. But I can get her.”

“Give me about half-an-hour,” Owen replied, once again looking at the lab. “I’ll comm you and Kathryn then. We’ll make a plan using whatever we have then. Talk to you again soon, son.”

When Paris reached the work station where Liu and Greene were monitoring the efforts of a Section 31 tech named Barrett, he was disappointed to see no new data on the screen.

“Dammit,” he said. 

Liu looked back at him and asked, “News from Tom?”

“Yeah,” Owen replied. “They think we should confront Alynna tonight, at the admiralty dinner.”

Greene nodded and said, “That makes sense, her guard will be down.”

“Exactly,” Owen said. “And Katie apparently has some ideas about bluffing her, I guess to try and get her to admit what’s going on, or unnerve her or something. I don’t know, I’ll get the details in about half-an-hour. I was hoping to be able to give her something more concrete to work with – no luck decrypting these files?”

Barrett shook her head and said, “I don’t understand it. The complexity of the encryption looks 20 years old – but I cannot identify the base algorithm, it’s not something in our data banks, I’ve never seen it.”

Liu looked at Owen again and asked, “What do you think Edward Janeway would have used? He wouldn’t have used a standard Starfleet encryption, but he might have chosen something *you* would recognize. He obviously wanted you to see this, he led you to it. Think about it, Owen – what do you remember about your friend that helps us unlock this?”

Owen crossed his arms and looked at the floor. He started thinking about Edward, and then started pacing. 

All their missions and adventures, all their talks about family. Edward trusted Owen to protect his family if he died. Liu was right, Edward would have chosen something Owen would be able to figure out.

Encryption. Not standard Starfleet. It couldn’t be standard Starfleet. These were the files they kept themselves. This was a red file. A red filly.

Owen chuckled in spite of himself. A red filly.

Wait.

A filly is a file. A file is a filly.

When did that start?

That security conference on Starbase 12. The Bolian. And before him … the deadly-dull Vulcan.

Owen turned back to Barrett and asked, “Have you ever heard of an encryption specialist from Vulan named … uh, Sokut, maybe?”

The technician stared at Owen, then asked, “Do you mean Tav Sukot of the Vulcan Science Academy?”

“That’s the one,” Owen replied. “Did he have any theories that might inform this process?”

Barrett replied, “Sukot used some pretty odd algorithms as the basis for his encryption protocol – definitely not standard Starfleet. Let me see what I can do.”

She typed in a few instructions. After a moment, the screen changed to show a data conversion process had been initiated.

“There we go!” Liu said with satisfaction.

Greene leaned forward and asked, “How long will it take to start seeing what’s in these files?”

“It’s going to be a while,” Barrett said with a frown. “I might have the complete directory available in about 20 minutes, but I don’t know about the content in each individual file. That might take a while longer.”

“What about the video files, the ones labeled ‘Confessions’?” Owen asked.

“That will take even longer, I’m afraid,” Barrett replied.

Over the next fifteen minutes, the file directory became visible. Edward seemed to have saved copies of orders given by Nechayev, intelligence reports from Cardassia, and great deal of information about new technologies being developed by Starfleet in anticipation of a Cardassian conflict.

One section of the directory jumped out at Owen, though, a section called “Communiques from Evla to AN.”

Liu must have noticed it at the same time, he said, “Have we gotten any closer to knowing what Evla means?”

No one responded.

Greene then went to another station and entered some information into it.

“I checked our Cardassian database, that word ‘Evla’ seems to be somewhat common female name. There are some references to an ‘Evla’ in Cardassian mythology, and there are a few places on Cardassia Prime that have the word in their names,” Greene said, reviewing the information on the monitor.

“Could ‘Evla’ be the name of Nechayev’s contact in the Obsidian Order?” Liu asked.

“There’s no way for us to find out before we confront her,” Owen said as he looked at a nearby chronometer. He needed to comm Kathryn and Tom in about five minutes. He ran his hand over his head and sighed.

Liu asked, “Didn’t you say Janeway plans to bluff Nechayev? If she’s running a bluff, how much does she really need to know about this ‘Evla’ person or place? If you are trying to unnerve her before making the accusations, do you *have* to know what it means? Won’t it be enough, in the short term, just to let her think you know?”

Owen considered that for a moment, then nodded. 

“It will have to be enough,” Owen stated. “I am going to go call Katie and Tom and talk them through this.”

“Before you do,” Greene said, “may I make a suggestion? If you want to unnerve Admiral Nechayev, you need to think about your approach. I don’t think an attempt by Admiral Janeway, or Captain Chakotay, or you will get you what you want. She will put up her armor the moment one of you opens your mouth. You need find someone … I don’t know, different … to come at here. Someone unexpected, maybe someone she’s never served with, maybe even someone who isn’t Starfleet.”

“Someone unexpected, huh?” Owen mused.

“She is always ready for an attack from fellow officers,” Greene said. “You need to involve someone she won’t be ready for.”

Owen then smiled.

“I think I know. Thanks, I need to go comm Katie and Tom.”

\------------

**_Excerpt from “The Art and Practice of Romance,” Chapter 35_ **

_“You need to bring Gretchen,” Owen said._

_Kathryn shook her head and replied, “No, she is already too far into this, I am not going to put her at further risk.”_

_“Kathryn, she could be key to making this work,” Owen insisted. “The only way this bluff is going to fly is if Alynna funds herself truly at loose ends. She has too many years lying her way out of tight spots with other officers, that’s familiar territory for her. I don’t think she will know how to react to your mother.”_

_Kathryn was quiet for a moment, her lips pursed. She looked at Tom, the question in her eyes._

_“I think Dad’s right,” Tom said gently._

_Kathryn straightened her back and nodded curtly._

_“Okay,” she said._


	7. Chapter 7

**_Excerpt from “The Art and Practice of Romance,” Chapter 35_ **

_In the private dining room of the St. Francis, Admiral Upton was just beginning to give a talk about cultural exchange programs between long-established Federation members and newly-admitted worlds. He stopped speaking, though, when the doors to the dining room opened and Admirals Janeway and Paris came walking in._

_Jeremiah Hayes stood up at his table and boomed, “Well, I never though I’d see the day! Owen, how the hell did you get Katie Janeway to come to this thing?”_

_Owen smiled and said, “Oh, it wasn’t my doing, you can thank Alynna for it.”_

_Admiral Nechayev slowly rose from her chair at her table._

_“I am gratified you joined us tonight, Owen, Kathryn, but how am I responsible for the two of you being here?” she asked coldly._

_“Oh, it’s not just the two of us,” Kathryn said, and she moved aside to allow the other officers in the room._

_Eyebrows shot up and eyes widened at every table. Admiral Upton returned to his seat – he knew that his presentation would pale in comparison to whatever was about to happen._

_Admiral Nechayev’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t falter. She continued to stand straight. She was looking at some of her least favorite people in all of Starfleet, idiots who had dared to challenge her on her turf._

_“There are no ‘plus-ones’ allowed at this dinner. Owen, you know better. Kathryn, I guess you are simply still too green to know how things are done. Or maybe those bars just don’t fit.”_

_“Oh, we aren’t here for the dinner,” Kathryn responded. She turned to look at her friends and her Handsome Man – she smiled at them – then she looked back at Nechayev._

_“We are all here because we have a question we want answered,” Kathryn said._

_Nechayev rolled her eyes and sighed._

_“What question would that be,” she asked, choosing to sound bored._

_Gretchen then appeared from behind the group and walked to the middle of the room._

_“Alynna Nechayev,” she said, looking the admiral directly in the eye but refusing to use her title, “Why have you decided to have my daughter and her friends murdered?”_

_Now the room was full of gasps. Many of the assembled admirals knew Gretchen Janeway personally, they knew she was not a flighty woman. For her to be there, at that event, making that accusation – something was definitely going on._

_Admiral Nechayev, for her part, seemed to shrink a bit._

_Gretchen had not stopped staring at the admiral._

_“Alynna, I asked you a question,” she said in her most parental tone._

_Nechayev glanced around the room quickly and saw everyone else apparently as cowed as she was. She looked at Gretchen, then looked away and replied, “I don’t know what you are talking about. I’m not having anyone murdered.”_

_Gretchen, sensing her advantage, stepped forward._

_“You might not be pulling out a phaser, but you are putting my daughter in the line of fire. And her friends and loved ones. Why are you trying to have Captain Chakotay, and Commanders Torres and Paris killed, also? Did you know Commander Torres is pregnant with her second child? Why are you wanting to have Owen’s grandson executed?”_

_Again, the room filled with quiet chatter._

_The noise seemed to trigger defensiveness in Nechayev. She held her chin up and said, “I don’t know what you are talking about, Gretchen.”_

_“Oh, you don’t get to call me ‘Gretchen,’ young lady, you call me ‘Mrs. Janeway,’” Gretchen replied sharply. At her words, many of the other admirals in the room found themselves reflexively sitting up a little straighter, as though their own mothers were in the room._

_“Of course, Mrs. Janeway,” Nechayev began, trying to regain control of the room by placating the older woman, but Gretchen cut her off._

_“Do the others in this room know your plans? How you intend to send my daughter to the Gamma Quadrant, where some of your Cardassian friends plan to have her disappear?” she demanded._

_Seeing the universal looks of surprise on the other admirals, Gretchen continued._

_“Apparently, this was news to them. I suppose they also weren’t aware that you plan on allowing Cardassian military outposts to be constructed on Aldis and Foutis, and all those other worlds that you supposedly had taken out from under Cardassian control?”_

_More chatter in the room. Nechayev opened her mouth but Gretchen kept talking._

_“And I guess none of them knew that not only were you going to require Chakotay, B’Elanna, Tom, and all the other former Maquis from Voyager to be the ones charged with escorting those Cardassians to those planets, but that you had arranged for all of them to be taken prisoner by the remains of the Obsidian Order, then taken back to Cardassia and executed?”_

_Kathryn, Chakotay, and the others stared wide-eyed at Gretchen. She had turned her part in this confrontation into the role of a lifetime. Her voice had gotten stronger and her expression more contemptuous with each word she spat at Nechayev. All the assembled admirals were frozen, looking both mesmerized and a little scared of Mrs. Janeway._

_Still, Kathryn wasn’t sure the bluff had worked until the last exchange between her mother and Admiral Nechayev._

_“And one last question, Alynna,” Gretchen said, still unwilling to call Nechayev by her rank. “In light of everything else I’ve asked you, one question – what about E-V-L-A?”_

_At the Gretchen’s recitation of the letters that made up one of the file names from Edward’s “red filly,” Nechayev’s face had gone sickly pale, and she gasped._

_“Evla?” she choked out. “How do you know about Evla, what does she have to do with this?”_

_“It’s enough that we know, isn’t it Alynna?” Owen Paris asked, stepping forward._

_\------------_

_The Admiral was doing her best to appear unphased. She knew she would have to placate her colleagues when the evening was over. But she needed more information._

_“Where are you getting all this ridiculous information,” she spat at Owen and Gretchen._

_Owen rolled his eyes and said, “Where do you think? Who is in a position to not only tell me what you’ve been up to, but also what your allies on Cardassia have been up to?”_

_Nechayev’s eyes widened._

_Someone on the other side of the room said it loud enough to be heard by the entire room, “Section 31.”_

_Nechayev was shaken to realize she had been under that kind of surveillance, but she decided to continue to act as though she were as powerful as she’d been when the night began._

_“I know nothing of any plan to execute the Maquis, though it’s not like it wouldn’t be deserved,” she said._

_More gasps in the room._

_Nechayev threw her hands up and said, “Oh, please. Like everyone in here doesn’t know what they are. Traitors. Criminals.”_

_She shot a look of pure hatred at Chakotay and said, “Murderers.”_

_\------------_

_Admiral Hayes commed his own contacts at Section 31, and soon five non-descript individuals in Starfleet uniforms came in. They surrounded Admiral Nechayev and walked her out of the dining room, Owen Paris following._

*****

Owen stood at a view screen watching Alynna Nechayev sitting in a secured interrogation room. Her demeanor was standard-issue Nechayev. She looked almost relaxed.

“You still think you’re getting out of this, don’t you?” Owen quietly asked the image on the screen.

“She’s not,” Admiral Liu said as he walked up.

Owen looked at Liu with raised eyebrows and asked, “Did you decrypt everything on the chip?”

Liu nodded.

“Is it enough?” Owen asked.

Liu’s own eyebrows rose and he said, “More than enough. Far more.”

Both men watched the once-powerful Nechayev on the video feed for a while longer.

“You *are* going to let me see what was on the chip, aren’t you, Kevin?” Owen finally said.

“I am,” Liu replied with a sigh. “Although … I’ll be honest, Owen, part of me is tempted to not let you. Not because I want to break out deal, but because I really don’t know that you *want* to know everything that’s on the chip.”

Owen looked at Liu questioningly.

“Knowledge can be a burden, Admiral,” Liu said.

They stood quietly for a few moments, still watching the impassive Alynna Nechayev.

Liu finally broke the silence.

“I am going in there to confront Alynna with some of what we learned. Not all of it – some of it, I don’t want her to know we know. Just enough to let her know her career is over. Once you hear it, I have no doubt you are going to want to go look at the files. Not just the data, you are going to want to see the video files. You are free to do so – Commander Greene is waiting for you in the lab.”

Liu turned to walk out, but then stopped.

“Owen, I think once you see everything, you will understand my concerns. You might even feel more strongly about all of it than I do. But in case you have any questions, I need to make one thing clear – the information on that chip cannot become public. Do you understand?”

Owen nodded.

“Good,” Liu replied. “In the meantime, enjoy the show.”

And he left to go confront Nechayev.

\------------

Owen continued watching Admiral Alynna Nechayev sitting still in the Section 31 brig. He wondered what she was thinking about

She was thinking about maneuvers.

It felt like her entire life was nothing but a series of maneuvers, each designed to hide a past or invent a new future. She didn’t live a life, she managed a life. An act one day could create a result in a week, a year, or 20 years.

Alynna managed her life as ceaseless series of maneuvers.

What had happened tonight at the dinner had been unexpected. No, that wasn’t entirely right, she’s always known that the secret of Evla would come out. But the *way* it happened tonight, from the mouth of Gretchen Janeway of all people ….

Alynna had to acknowledge the brilliance of the move. Owen and Kathryn caught her off guard. 

They would pay for it, of course. She would make sure of it.

The door to the room opened and Admiral Kevin Liu walked in.

“It’s about damn time,” Nechayev barked at Liu. She stood up, presumably to leave.

“Have a seat, Alynna, we have a lot to talk about,” Liu said as he sat at the table, setting a padd on the surface.

When Nechayev didn’t move, Liu shrugged, “Or stand. I don’t care. It’s not going to change anything I do.”

Nechayev sighed noisily and sat. She crossed her arms and looked pointedly at Liu.

Liu asked her, “Did you enjoy the dinner tonight?”  
“The food was fine, the entertainment left a little to be desired,” she replied coolly.

Liu nodded. Then he leaned back in his chair and looked at Nechayev, his head tilted.

Finally, he spoke.

“You know, it took us a long time to pin down why you had the relationship you did with your contacts in the Obsidian Order. Years, really. But now we know. We know all about Evla. We know about how she came into your life, who you really are. We know how you betrayed the Federation over and over at her request.”

Watching over the viewscreen, Owen saw Nechayev’s lip twitch slightly. But she didn’t say anything.

“By the way, you were misinformed as to how she died,” Liu said.

“What do you mean,” Alynna asked in surprise, her demeanor changing completely.

“I mean you were misinformed. I know Volle Rukol told you his grandmother died when her transport was attacked by the Maquis ship _Valjean_ nine years ago. That was a lie. Evla died of a strain of a Cardassian flu she picked up after Rukol sent her to a convalescent home.”

Nechayev stared at the man across from her. It couldn’t be ….

Liu leaned forward on the table and said, “I know you have heard as much as I have about how the Cardassians treat their elderly, Alynna. And I know that Evla told you many, many times how much she feared a slow death in one of the old homes – yes, I’ve read the communiques.”

Nechayev found her voice and said, “You’re lying.”

“I’m not,” Liu replied. He took the padd from the table and called up an image, showing it to Nechayev.

“See, her death by illness was mentioned by Rukol in one of his speeches on the home world.”

Nechayev read the news report of the speech. Her natural alabaster pallor had taken a turn toward gray.

“So,” Liu continued, “when you accused Captain Chakotay of murder, you were wrong. You owe him an apology, I think. You were going to have him killed for something he didn’t do.”

Nechayev, still sickly-looking, turned her face away from the padd and crossed her arms again.

“I have no desire to discuss Evla,” she said quietly.

At that, Liu looked up at the location of the camera. Owen took that as a signal to pay very close attention.

“We don’t have to discuss Evla,” Liu said. “I would rather discuss Justin Tighe. Justin Tighe and the Al-Batani.”

Nechayev didn’t move. Owen did, though. He stood up straight.

 _What the …?_ he thought. What did Alynna Nechayev have to do with Justin and the Al-Batani?

“What about them?” Nechayev asked.

Liu tapped the table with his index finger. He did this for nearly a minute. Clearly, he intended to further unnerve Nechayev, and it was working. He could almost see her mind spinning, wondering what he knew about that whole affair.

Problem was, it was just as stressful for Owen Paris.

 _The Al-Batani_ , he thought to himself. The mission with Kathryn Janeway. Their capture, and torture, by the Cardassians. Their rescue by Justin Tighe.

Owen felt his stomach tighten.

Finally, Liu spoke again.

“I have a pretty good idea why you arranged for Owen Paris and Kathryn Janeway to be captured by the Cardassians, and why you arranged for them to be rescued by Justin Tighe. And I believe I understand why you instructed Tighe to get close to Janeway, to court and romance her.”

At Nechayev’s disbelieving look, Liu said, “My theories are supported by some pretty significant evidence, but I would like to hear about it from you.”

Nechayev’s mouth was slightly open, and she shook her head.

“How …,” she mumbled.

“How do I know any of this? Well, it all goes back to one man, Alynna. And I’ll bet you can guess who that man is.”

Nechayev took a deep breath and said, “Edward Janeway.”

“That’s the one,” Liu confirmed. “And it’s my believe that’s why you sent your pet Ranger to cuddle up with Kathryn Janeway, you were hoping you could get to the father through the daughter.”

Back in the observation room. Owen’s head was spinning. _Justin had been a plant, sent by Nechayev to get close to Katie_?

“I thought they might be friends,” Nechayev said weakly.

“No, you expected more than that,” Liu countered coolly. “But before we get into those sordid details, let’s review your crimes. You planned their capture, Alynna. You arranged for Paris and Janeway to be captured by Cardassians. You routed mission information to Volle Rukol through Evla, and you made sure he got his hands on that shuttle – I have copies of the communiques right here. Then you made sure Tighe would be allowed to help them escape – after the Cardassian guards softened them up, of course.”

Now Nechayev’s pallor was almost green. Owen knew how she felt – he wanted t be sick.

“Where did you get this information?” Nechayev asked.

“That’s one of the best parts,” Liu replied. “We got a lot of the evidence from Edward Janeway – he had been keeping files on you for years, you know. But the most important evidence – including first person testimony – came from Justin Tighe himself.”

“What?” Nechayev gasped in disbelief.

Liu stood up, once again looking at the camera that fed to the screen Owen Paris was looking at.

“Edward Janeway figured out something was up with Tighe pretty quickly. He confronted him – Justin admitted everything. You failed to anticipate a very important risk, that Justin would develop real feelings for Kathryn Janeway. That his loyalty to you would become secondary. And that the kind honor and dedication to Starfleet that Edward and Kathryn modeled for Justin would cause him to not only question the mission you had him on, it would cause him to betray you.”

Liu placed his hands on the table, leaning towards Nechayev.

“Justin recorded a full confession not long before he died, Alynna. And I have it. It was on the same data chip where all the evidence of your dealings with the Obsidian Order were saved.”

Now, Nechayev was shaking. If Owen hadn’t been so ready to throttle her, he would have felt sorry for her.

Liu took his seat.

“You’ve been betraying Starfleet for a long time, Admiral,” Liu said. “You’ve betrayed us for people who lied to you. All the things Gretchen Janeway said tonight were true – your friend Volle had the deaths of Admiral Janeway, Captain Chakotay, and the former Maquis from Voyager planned to the minute. They all would have died, and it would have been on you. Instead, they are all going to live long, happy lives, and you are going to spend the rest of yours completely out of power, and very likely in prison.”

Liu looked up at the camera again, to where he thought Owen Paris was watching.

But Paris wasn’t there. He had left, had headed back to the Section 31 lab. He needed to see what was on that chip.

\------------

“Are you certain you want to see this, Admiral?” Commander Eric Greene asked as he escorted Owen Paris to a private office where he could see the video files.

“I am,” Owen said, a little breathless. He had practically run to the lab. But the nerves he felt in advance of watching the “Confessions” also left him breathing hard.

Greene nodded and showed Paris the location of the files on the Section 31 directory, accessible through the comm.

When Greene left, Paris looked at the two video files listed in the “Confessions” folder: JanewayE and TigheJ.

He opened Edward’s file first.

The face of his best friend appeared onscreen. Owen felt a lump in his throat.

“My name is Edward Janeway, and I am recording this statement in case I am not available to present evidence against Alynna Nechayev. I don’t know who will see this.”

Then Edward laughed and said, “That’s not true, I know exactly who will see this. Owen, I hope you are doing well. When Justin and I finish recording our statements, I plan to hide this in a way that only you will be able to find it. I gave Gretchen some instructions about my 'red filly' that only you will understand.”

Edward sighed and said, “You know, in all our years of collecting ‘fillies,’ Owen, I never expected to be in the position I’m in today. But Nechayev has committed treason. She has caused people to die, she went after people I love, she betrayed everything she is supposed to believe in. I need to make sure this evidence is preserved, as I fear she will delete much of it from Starfleet records if I delay.”

Edward paused and ran his hand over his head.

“Owen, I really hope I get to tell you all of this in person. You … you are going to be angry. I was angry.” 

He paused again, looking at the table. He took a deep breath and looked back at the camera.

“Alynna is the reason you and Katie were captured. You can confirm it in some of the evidence saved to this chip. I … I got copies of communications between her and a contact she has on Cardassia. I got them from Justin. He was assigned to us. Alynna assigned Justin to you and Katie, and she assigned him to me. She’s been after us, all of us.”

A noise off-screen grabbed Edward’s attention. He nodded at someone then resumed talking.

“There’s more I need to tell you, but I need to go prep for this trip Katie and I are taking with Justin. We’re testing the engines on an experimental craft, the Terra Nova. We’re heading out later today, and I need to give Justin time to record his confessions. He hasn’t told me everything, and I get the feeling there’s a lot. He says the story he has to tell will explain a lot, but he seems a little afraid to tell it. I’m going to let him record his testimony in private. I’ll finish my part when we get back – better yet, Owen, I’ll just tell you all of it when you get back in two weeks. See you then, friend.”

The screen went blank.

Owen’s eyes were red. Edward had recorded this message the day he left with Kathryn and Justin on the mission that would kill two of them and scar the third for life.

 _Dammit, Edward_ , Owen thought. Then he pounded the desk with his fist and jumped up, knocking over his chair.

“Damn you, Edward!” Paris yelled. Never had Paris been more angry at his friend for dying than at that moment.

Outside the office, Erick Greene heard the yell. He sighed sadly – he knew what Paris must have just finished viewing.

In the office, Owen was pacing, a thousand thoughts running through his head. Nechayev had gotten Kathryn and himself captured. Justin had been working undercover for Nechayev. Edward had figured it all out, and had been ready to tell people. He only had enough time to save his evidence and record some of his thoughts before ….

Owen stopped pacing.

Wait.

Edward had planned to tell Owen everything, that much was clear. Which meant he’s planned to take it somewhere – to Starfleet Security, maybe? But he died before he could.

He died before he could incriminate Alynna Nechayev. The two men who apparently had evidence in show Nechayev was a traitor had died.

Owen sat back down.

Could Alynna be behind that, too? Did she have Edward and Justin killed?

He felt like he was going to be sick to his stomach. He wanted to run back to the room where Liu and Nechayev were meeting and demand her immediate dismissal. Hell, forget dismissal, her wanted to phaser her out of existence.

Most of all, though, he wanted to know *WHY*.

Owen then remembered what Edward said about Justin’s information being an explanation. He turned back to the terminal and called up the “TigheJ” video file.

A thirty-something face that Owen hadn’t seen in 20 years appeared. 

Justin looked uncertain, but he began to speak.

“I have given Edward Janeway copies of communiques between Alynna Nechayev and Cardassian officials, which he says he will save to the same data chip as this recording. There are other pieces of evidence I have included. But what you – what anyone listening to this – needs to hear is the story I am going to tell.”

Justin took a deep breath and said, “She told me the story not long after I became a Ranger. I have confirmed most of it – the parts I haven’t aren’t significant enough to worry over. But her story made my story turn out a certain way. I … I am ashamed. I allowed her to influence me, I shouldn’t have. I think Edward has forgiven me. Perhaps, one day, Kathryn will also.”

“Anyway,” Justin said with a sigh, “this is the story of my Aunt Alynna.”


	8. Chapter 8

_Alynna Nechayev’s story, as told to Justin Tighe, with additional information gleaned by him in the research he conducted on her life._

She didn’t really remember her real parents. Oh, there were pictures in her mind, mostly of her father. But they weren’t memories of living, breathing people. She knew her real name, knew her actual place of birth, though she never felt any of it belonged to her. 

That place, that man who was her father, it all belonged to a girl who never really existed.

Her first substantial memory was of being hungry. She could definitely remember being with humans, and being hungry. Then she was with Cardassians and she wasn’t hungry. 

She was told that her parents, ill and impoverished, had given her to the Cardassian family who had stopped in the Klatus system to trade with the small mining colony on Klatus Prime. The matriarch of the Rukol family, Evla, had taken a liking to little Allie Tighe, giving her sweets and toys. Allie’s parents noticed the interest and saw an opportunity for their daughter.

“She would live longer with you,” Allie’s father Daniel had said to Evla.

Evla enjoyed having little ones on the ship. Her grandson Volle traveled with her, and she was entertained by his childish observations and actions. Evla also saw the truth in Daniel’s statement -- the humans on this barren rock were hungry and sickly. A child this age would only know suffering if she stayed. So when the Cardassian freighter left Klatus, they took the small human child with them. Evla immediately changed the child's name to Lina.

This is where the Admiral's memories truly began, on the rickety freighter with a bunch of people who looked nothing like her. Allie -- now Lina -- wasn't afraid of the people on the ship. They gave her food and a warm place to sleep. The lady who looked after her, Evla, was kind to her. 

The Cardassian grandmother had grown up on the streets of Lakat, always hungry and never safe. She had done what she needed to do to survive back then. The coldness of her life as a child hardened into the steel in her eyes now. Evla had spent her entire adult life trying to protect her own children from the pains she had suffered, and she had done so, and more. As a result, though, none of her children or grandchildren empathized with her hardness.

This little human girl, though. She could understand. Evla saw the same drive in the child's eyes that had lived in her own so many, many years before. The inner drive that would turn the coldness of her life so far into steel.

"I will teach this little one," Evla thought to herself. 

Evla told the child stories of Cardassian villians and heroes, of the powerful nobles who stole from the masses and made families suffer, and of the military that brought order to chaos. These were the first stories the girl had ever heard -- her parents never told her any, not that she recalled. The tales stayed in her mind as she went to sleep at night, her imagination adding layers and complexities to the stories, each allowing Lina to grow into dream of own adventures with the Cardassian heroes she learned of.

Evla also told Lina stories about power, how having power meant you would never be hungry or frightened, how power had to be both taken and earned. Evla explained to the girl that every action a person took was about positioning herself for the next act, then the next, and so on. Where alliances could be made to share resources, you made them. You took great care never to break them without a damned good reason to -- not because honor had any value, but because today's jilted ally could be tomorrow's stronger enemy.

Lastly, Evla told Lina that the people who saved her, who loved her, were not human, they were Cardassian. 

In return, Lina became a valued member of Evla’s crew. She had a talent for organization, that was certain. Whenever the freighter brought on new cargo, Lina took it upon herself to inventory and process it. Sometimes, Volle helped. More often, he imitated the other men on the ship and ordered the small human girl around like a servant.

Strangely, Lina considered Volle her best friend, second only to Evla in her estimation. 

Lina had been with her Cardassian family for nearly four years when their ship was boarded by the crew of a Federation vessel. Evla and her family had so many stories at the ready as to why a human child was with them, but the captain of the Federation vessel, Mikhail Nechayev, wasn’t interested. There was no way in hell he was going to allow a human girl to be raised by “spoonheads.”

Captain Nechayev gave Elva and her crew a choice -- leave the child and go on their way, or be arrested for kidnapping and taken to Earth for trial. For most of the Rukol family, it was not a hard decision. For Evla, it was like seeing part of herself being cut away. 

Evla embraced the girl at their parting and whispered to her, “I will see you again, my Lina. Remember, these people might look like you, they may say they love you, but they do not. Only I see the steel in your eyes and love you for it. They will despise your coldness, but stay strong, little one. That coldness will take you far.”

The freighter left soon after.

Captain Nechayev took the child to meet his wife, and she asked “What is your name, girl?”

“Lina … uh, Allie,” the child said haltingly, first giving her Cardassian name, then remembering her human one.

The Captain’s wife looked at her husband and shook her head, then looked back at the child and demanded, "Which is it? Allie? Lina?"

The girl looked at the woman defiantly, the ice in her eyes hardening to steel, and said, "What do you want it to be?"

The Captain spoke up then and said, "Alynna. Alynna Nechayev is your name, now."

\------------

Alynna Nechayev grew up in coldness.

It wasn’t just memories of Klatus, or her isolation with the Cardassians, or the ice that remained in her heart. It was also the Nechayevs.

To all outsiders, they looked like an ideal family. A dashing Starfleet officer at the head, Captain Mikhail Nechayev. Standing by his side, the beautiful, pale, raven-haired beauty Veronique, his wife of so many years. And finally, they had the child they had longed for, a thin, blonde girl whose parents had died in some terrible shuttle accident, on some planet, somewhere – no one really knew the details. But the Nechayevs had taken her in and lavished her with all the things a child could want.

Not a word of love of affection was ever spoken to her, of course. Alynna had not been with this human family for very long before she discovered her purpose was that of accessory. The Nechayevs had been told that in order to reach the highest echelons of social and political standing, they needed to be more than a power couple, they needed to be a family. The pair had been unable to have children of their own, so when fate presented them with an intelligent, quiet, seemingly malleable girl, they took her.

Just like she did on the Cardassian freighter, Alynna accepted food, clothing, shelter, and education in exchange for labor. The Nechayevs didn’t expect her to inventory cargo, though, they wanted a performance. Alynna was to be the model child, to make her “parents” look better through her own achievements. 

Alynna was only a child, but she recognized the advantages she would receive in exchange for this fiction. The best education. Starfleet Academy. The chance to travel, to once more move among the stars, to, perhaps, one day, see Evla again.

The only part of her heart that was not solid ice was the tiny space she kept devoted to the memory of the only real kindness she had ever known, the memory of the woman who had truly seemed to care for her, Evla.

\------------

“I know who you are.”

Lt. Alynna Nechayev was undercover for Starfleet Intelligence on Bajor. She had been surgically altered to look Bajoran, and no one in the Bajoran government had any idea she was there. And if they didn’t know, there was no way this lumbering, awkward Cardassian trader could know.

“Who am I?” she asked the trader warily. In truth, he didn’t frighten her. Aside from the fact she did not harbor the distaste for Cardassians that her fellow Intelligence operatives did, she was quite confident in her ability to throw him to the ground in seconds.

However, she was operating undercover as an itinerant Bajoran farm worker, it wouldn’t do to show too much Starfleet attitude in this guise. So after responding to the man, she lowered her eyes back to the basked of fruit she was unloading at a market stall.

The Cardassian leaned over and put a finger under her chin to raise her face to his.

“You are Lina, the human child who lived among Cardassians for several years.”

Alynna’s face betrayed nothing, but her heart seemed to stop beating.

_Lina._

She hadn’t heard that name in years.

“I do not know that name,” she replied, perhaps with a little more force than necessary.

The Cardassian stood up straight and smiled.

“Of course you don’t. But perhaps there is another name you do know. Come to our camp tonight, tell the guard you are a prostitute Kolov purchased for the evening, and he will bring you to my tent.”

The Cardassian raised a hand to ward off the retort Alynna had prepared for him and said, with a gleam in his eye, “You will come tonight if you want news of Evla.”

\------------

Alynna’s heart was thundering as she approached Kolov’s tent.

She still was not afraid of the Cardassian. If he demanded sex from her, she was prepared to cooperate. Her desire to hear any news of Evla overrode any distaste she might feel at the idea of prostituting herself.

When she entered his tent, Kolov smiled and rose from his chair. He embraced her and said, “Lina, how good it is to see you after so long! Do you know me? It is your old friend Volle!”

“Volle?” Alynna gasped. “I thought … you said you were called Kolov!”

He waved her statement away as a triviality.

“That is the name I use here, in this military encampment. Please, sit! I want to know all about your life among the humans, and I want to tell you about Evla!”

They spent the next several hours catching each other up on their lives. Volle told Alynna of the adventures the Rukol family had experienced on their little freighter in the years after Lina’s departure, and Alynna told Volle the stories of her upbringing on Earth. She did not spare any details, nor she did not ask for any pity. She explained the loveless relationship with her adoptive parents as coolly as she might have in explaining the rules to a card game.

Volle knew she would not want pity, and he had no real desire to give it. But that scrawny little human girl from his childhood had grown into a woman approaching the cusp of real power in Starfleet. It was too good an opportunity to let pass.

“Oh, Lina, I am sorry these humans did not care for you as we did,” Volle said, putting a comforting hand on hers. He looked into her eyes, and for a moment, Alynna almost thought she saw real affection and concern there.

But Volle stood up to continue talking.

“You know, I don’t think Evla ever got over losing you. Even now, when we talk about our years as a family traveling the quadrant, someone will mention you and she will get such a look of longing on her face. Oh, how I wish the humans had let you two remain in touch!”

“Where is Evla now?” Alynna asked. “Can I speak with her?”

“She is on Cardassia Prime,” Volle responded. “I do not know how easy it will be to put you in touch, though. Communications between Bajor and my home planet are fraught with technical issues these days.”

He looked at Alynna as though he were trying to make a decision. Finally, he said, “Lina, you have been altered to look Bajoran, I assume you are here undercover. Do you have a ship in orbit, one from which we could establish a comm link with Cardassia Prime?”

“Yes,” Alynna answered without thinking. Something in her mind began meekly warning against the decisions she seemed ready to make, but she didn’t care. She only cared about speaking to Evla.

\------------

The next evening, Alynna met Volle near the Cardassian encampment. The two of them transported to the non-descript shuttle she had arrived on, one that, to both the naked eye and to anyone’s sensors, looked nothing like a Starfleet shuttle.

Once they were inside, though, Volle could tell he was in the presence of some very sophisticated Federation covert monitoring equipment. He knew there was no way his presence on this ship could have been approved by Starfleet. He also recognized that while Alynna probably played the part of “obedient officer” very well, she had not grown into any form of subservience. She did what she wanted.

Volle went to the communications station next to the pilot’s seat and began typing commands to reach Cardassia Prime. Soon, after filtering out static and bypassing a number of Cardassian signal blocks, he had a link established with his home. Eventually, a familiar face appeared on the screen.

“Evla, my dear grandmother,” Volle said to the elderly woman gently, “I have a gift for you.” And he motioned for Alynna to take his place.

Evla’s eyes narrowed as she took in the face of the Bajoran woman who Volle had introduced as a “gift.” Bajoran, and yet not Bajoran. The hair was so pale, as was the skin. And her eyes, so full of ice. Evla had only ever seen that ice in her own eyes, and in the eyes of the human child she had lost so many years before.

The child.

“Lina!” Evla suddenly gasped. “Is it you, my girl? How are you Bajoran? Is it you, Lina?”

Volle heard Alynna give a broken “Yes, Evla,” as he shut the door to the cockpit. He excused himself to the back part of the shuttle, supposedly to give the women time to catch up. In fact, he was actually downloading the shuttle’s various files onto a series of data chips he had brought with him.

When he returned to the cockpit an hour later, he found Alynna staring at a blank screen. Her eyes appeared slightly red.

“Oh, are you two finished already?” he asked.

“I know what you’ve been doing,” Alynna said matter-of-factly. “I honestly don’t care.”

Volle nodded. This did not surprise him, that she didn’t care he was taking Starfleet information. In fact, he felt fairly certain that the only loyalty this Alynna Nechayev felt to anyone was to herself, and perhaps to Evla.

Yes, this human presented a marvelous opportunity for Volle.

He took a seat next to her and asked her gently, “Did you enjoy talking with her?”

Alynna gave a half smile and replied, “Yes. I guess I had missed her. I had missed talking with someone who understands.”

“Would you like to be able to talk to her often?” Volle asked.

She stared out of the shuttle’s viewport for a moment. So much emptiness out there. All that nothingness, occasionally interrupted by a tiny bit of light. Those pinpricks of light were all that broke up the darkness. 

The emptiness of space, the emptiness of life, the emptiness of her own life. Yet today, a little light. Would she like to be able to see that light again? 

Alynna turned and looked at Volle. He saw the icy determination in her face and knew he was about make a deal with her that would ensure his future in the Cardassian military – perhaps even gain him entry into Obsidian Order leadership.

“Okay, Volle,” Alynna said coolly, “tell me what you want.”


	9. Chapter 9

Alynna Nechayev sat in her darkened office alone. Her head was pounding. When she had seen the name "Justin Tighe" on the list of newly-minted Rangers, she had almost vomited. It had been only weeks earlier when she got the secured comm from Evla that a human male with the name "Tighe" had been captured by a small band of Cardassians. 

The man had been tortured and, while not sharing any information that Starfleet didn’t want shared, he had been open about his past. The file on this officer soon included his origins in a mining colony on Klatus. That planet’s name, plus the last name “Tighe,” had been enough to get the attention of Gul Volle Rukol. 

He instructed Evla to reach out to Alynna on a secure comm and find out what she wanted done with the young man.

Alynna honestly hadn't cared. As she rose through the ranks of Starfleet, she had taken the opportunity to learn what had happened to her family back on Klatus, such as they were. Her parents had died. Her much older brother had taken a wife and they'd had one child, a boy named Justin. Alynna had felt nothing for any of them, and had given them no thought until the comm from Evla.

"Anything interesting about him?" Alynna had asked.

"I have only seen pictures taken by his interrogators, they were shared with the others in the Order, so Volle got them," Evla replied weakly. Volle, who Evla lived with as her health declined, had obtained his dream of membership in the Obsidian Order.

Evla paused then said, "I see the same ice in his eyes that I once saw in yours."

At that, Alynna looked up.

“Volle said … Volle said he could be useful to you one day, Lina, to all of us,” Evla said hesitantly. 

Alynna stared at her Cardassian savior for a moment. In the twenty-five years since she had reestablished communication with Evla, the women had become friends much more than pseudo mother-and-daughter. They spoke about four times a year, piggy-backing their signals onto others that would not capture the attention of the leaders of either the Federation or Cardassia.

As Evla aged, she began speaking more candidly about Volle. She warned Alynna again and again not to trust him. And Alynna didn’t trust him – but she also had discovered that Volle’s willingness to care for Evla was tied directly to Nechayev’s willingness to betray the Federation.

There were times when Alynna felt the whole of her career, her entire life in Starfleet, existed solely so she could secure the care Evla needed. 

Turning her focus back to Evla, she sighed and said, “Tell Volle to let him escape. I’ll make sure a Starfleet crew finds him. We’ll soon see if he’s worth anything.”

But she hadn’t attempted to contact him. When she saw his name on that list, though ….

Alynna activated her comm and called Admiral Cooper.

“Cooper here.”

“Terry, it’s Alynna. Look, I understand you have a new Ranger who’s had some experience with Cardassians. I have a few … projects … coming up that could benefit from the participation of a Ranger with that kind of background. Any chance I can get him assigned to my staff for a while?”

\------------

Lieutenant Justin Tighe was not a man who indulged much in emotion. And his reaction to discovering his relationship to the feared Captain Nechayev didn’t provoke an emotional response. He felt shock. Overwhelming shock. Shock that lasted a couple of days.

The day he reported to his assignment with her, she had taken him into her office and explained their connection. She also showed no emotion, save a tiny flicker in her eyes when she spoke about the Cardassian woman who had saved her.

It was his third week working for her when he regained a sense of equilibrium. Nechayev had been reviewing Starfleet’s long-range planning with respect to Cardassia. In these discussions, she had behaved as anyone would expect a captain to behave with a new staff member. Tighe observed her facial expressions, such as they were – a small wrinkle in her forehead, the occasional twitch of her lip, or the slight rise of an eyebrow. 

Nothing about her interactions with him betrayed the fact that they were each other’s only living family.

Tighe wanted to test this, so he decided to ask some questions he had no business asking.

“You don’t like Starfleet’s plans for Cardassia, do you?” he asked.

“I neither like nor dislike them, I just understand them. They are the plans Starfleet has,” Nechayev replied.

“They are not your plans, though,” he countered.

She leaned back in her chair and looked at this nephew of hers appraisingly. After a few moments, she asked him, “What do you mean?”

Justin shrugged and said, “They are not your plans. You have different plans. I have seen the recommendations you have sent to Intelligence, and the way you have chosen to deploy resources. You have different plans.”

Nechayev’s eyes narrowed and she said, “Perhaps you’d better tell me what you think you see.”

Justin stared right back at her. Then he smiled. He smiled the wide, thousand-watt smile that he had learned to use so many years before. It always worked on women, and not a few men. It would work on this woman, relation or no.

“I see something interesting going on,” he replied. “And I love interesting things.”

“Oh, do you?” Nechayev replied sarcastically, but with her eyes softened just a bit.

“I do. For example, I notice how you have managed to keep the space around Minos Korva relatively free of the kind of sophisticated orbital probes we usually deploy to monitor communications. That’s doesn’t align with Starfleet objectives for the area. But it’s not an oversight, is it?”

Nechayev continued to stare at him.

He finally leaned forward and said, “Look, I am not accusing you of anything. You probably know Cardassians better than anyone in the ‘Fleet. I just want to know what is going on. I could be helpful, you know ….”

He let that hang in the air for just a second before adding, “I could help you, Aunt Alynna.”

\------------

Alynna took Justin on more as a protégé than a nephew. He was fine with that – he was rudderless, and she provided him direction.

Justin eventually realized that his Aunt Alynna had developed an obsession with Admiral Edward Janeway. She was convinced he was planning to move against her. Alynna and Justin had discussed the issue at length and decided that the best way to Edward was through his daughter, Kathryn.

When Kathryn was assigned to the Al-Batani and Owen Paris for the Arias Expedition, Alynna saw their chance. She arranged for Justin to be assigned to the mission as well. Given his personal history with the Cardassians, she knew Paris would welcome his participation in the supposedly-secret part of the trip, to set up listening stations near the border.

“You are going to have to get close to her,” Alynna had said several times in the days before Justin left for his mission.

“I won’t mind that one bit,” Justin had replied with a smirk.

His aunt gave him a sharp look and snapped, “This isn’t a trip to Risa I’m talking about, Justin, this is undercover work. And everything I know about Kathryn Janeway tells me she’s not like one of those weekend toys you usually play around with.”

Justin sighed and nodded, feigning a serious look. Inside, though, he thought the conquest of Kathryn Janeway could be a delightful challenge.

\------------

“And she refused to leave me when my broken ankle made it impossible for me to run. I ordered her to go to the beam-out site, and she refused, she stayed to defend *me*. She was remarkable, you’d never have known she’d just been freed from that hell hole, or that she had been tortured.”

Justin was talking to Alynna Nechayev over a secure subspace channel from the Al-Batani. It was two days after he had “rescued” Kathryn Janeway from the Cardassian prison.

Alynna shook her head and said, “Volle is going to hear about this from me. You weren’t supposed to be injured, I am furious.”

Justin dismissed that with a wave and said, “I am fine, Aunt Alynna. It was my own fault, I wasn’t careful.”

“What about Janeway and Paris, how are they doing?” Alynna asked.

“They are okay, physically,” Justin replied with a furrowed brow. “But … did Volle mean for them to be tortured like that?”

“I have no idea what Volle intended, specifically,” Alynna replied a little evasively. She knew her nephew’s own experience with Cardassian “persuasion” left him a little sensitive to the issue of torture – it left him a little squeamish.

She continued, “I know he needed information about the listening stations. He ordered his operatives to get it. His operatives would have done whatever needed to be done to accomplish their task.”

Justin sighed and looked away. When he looked back at the screen, his eyes were troubled.

This was the first time Alynna had ever seen this look on his face.

“Are you having second thoughts about our project, nephew?” Alynna asked pointedly.

“No,” Justin replied too quickly. Then after a minute, he added, “I happen to like both Paris and Janeway. And I don’t like torture.”

Alynna smiled sympathetically and said, “Of course you don’t. No one does. But we are operating on a different plane that everyone else in both the Federation and the Cardassian government – you, me, Evla, and Volle. We have the opportunity to ensure all our futures, and the futures of both our peoples, if we are willing to make sacrifices.”

“And Kathryn’s well-being is just one of those things that must be sacrificed?” Justin retorted.

Alynna smirked and replied, “I thought you were looking forward to being a comforting shoulder for her, Justin. I thought you were excited by the prospect of getting close to her.”

Justin gave her a look and said, “I am trying to help her put back the pieces of her life. I remember all too well what that’s like. There’s not much to enjoy in it.”

“But you will continue to do it,” Alynna said. “You will help her recover, then you will make yourself indispensable in her life. You need to make her feel so safe with you that she won’t feel safe without you.”

“You make it sound like …” Justin started. Then he stopped and looked hard at his aunt.

“Did you arrange for the torture to happen? Did you set this up, put her through that, to give me an opening?” he asked in some disbelief.

Alynna huffed in response.

“You have a job to do, Justin. I suggest you do it,” she said, then she terminated the call.

Justin sat back in his chair. He had gotten to know Kathryn Janeway pretty well in the months he had been on the Al-Batani. What had started as a meaningless lust for the officer had turned into a grudging respect for her. Since their escape from the Cardassian prison, he had started to feel real admiration for her.

Hell, he’d developed an actual, honest-to-goodness crush on Kathryn Janeway.

“I’ll help put you back together, Kathryn,” Justin said to himself. “But I’ll do it for you, not them, not her.”

\------------

“You want to do WHAT?” Alynna basically shrieked.

Justin stood at attention in front of his aunt’s desk.

“I would like your permission to marry Kathryn Janeway, Captain,” he replied stiffly.

Alynna put her head in her hands for a moment, then she looked up at Justin, still standing stiffly.

“What the hell would that accomplish?” she asked wearily.

Justin didn’t look at her, he just continued to stare at the wall behind her desk.

“It would make me happy,” he finally replied.

“It would make you happy?” Alynna replied harshly. “It will make you happy to turn your back on me? To turn your back on what Evla and Volle have asked of you? We are the only family you have, Justin, you would choose that girl over us?”

Justin finally met her eyes.

“They aren’t my family, they are yours,” he snapped.

“*I* am your family, which means they are your family, too,” Alynna retorted.

Justin ignored that statement and continued.

“I love Kathryn, and I want to marry her.”

Alynna stood up and walked around her desk to stand in front of Justin.

“What do you think your ‘love’ would think of the reasons you met, huh?” she asked with a snarl. “You think Kathryn will want to marry a man who was assigned to bed her?”

Justin was shocked by the ice he saw in his aunt’s eyes, the venom in her voice.

“You would never tell her that,” he said coolly, “because it would out you.”

She stared at him. He was right – there was no way she could tell his secrets without betraying her own. Moreover, she had a lot more to hide than Justin did. He knew that.

She took a deep breath and sat on the edge of her desk, placing her hand on his arm.

“You love her?” she asked him.

“I do, Aunt Alynna,” Justin replied with wide eyes. “I never expected it. And … and I’ve never felt anything like this. I love her. I want to marry her.”

Alynna smiled a bit and said, “I understand. And, if I am honest, I think it’s kind of sweet. Damned inconvenient, but sweet. And I will allow it, Justin, but you are going to need to do something for me, first. You need to get your hands on *everything* Edward Janeway has on me.”

\------------

“You still haven’t brought me *any* of the intelligence that Edward Janeway has gathered on me,” a frustrated Alynna Nechayev said to her nephew.

Justin looked away from her, towards the window behind her desk. He could see Starfleet Headquarters a few buildings away.

He couldn’t tell her that he had finally, truly turned on her. That he had told Edward Janeway everything. She was the only living family he had. She was wrong – her loyalty to the Cardassians with so incredibly misplaced. But he couldn’t tell her.

He had never felt more cowardly.

Justin knew that Edward was preparing to act against her, probably in just a few weeks. Admiral Janeway’s involvement in anti-Cardassian projects at Starfleet gave him little choice. He had asked Justin to make a statement about his “Aunt Alynna” for the record, and he promised to do all he could to help Kathryn understand … everything.

Justin wasn’t sure she would be able to.

Alynna noticed she had lost her nephew’s attention and said, “Something else on your mind, Justin? Thinking about your trip in a couple of days?”

Justin nodded and said, “Yes, I’m sorry. I have some concerns about those engines we are going to test. I can’t seem to get my mind off of them.”

Alynna nodded and asked, “And this trip, it’s going to be you, Kathryn, and Edward?”

“Yes,” Justin replied. Then he leaned forward and said, “Aunt Alynna, I don’t know that I am going to be able to get all that information you want. I’ve mentioned you to Edward several times, he’s not taking the bait. Maybe, after Kathryn and I are married ….”

Alynna stood up and said, “Don’t worry about it, Justin. I have … other ways … of dealing with my Edward Janeway problem. All my problems, actually.”

\------------

_Return to Present Day, with Owen Paris watching Justin Tighe’s “Confession”_

“So, that’s where I stand with regard to Aunt Alynna. I am not sure what she means that she has ‘other ways’ of dealing with Admiral Janeway. Maybe she is going to contact Volle, I don’t know. I will be glad to get through this mission to test this shuttle, and then be done with this part of my life. My life as a traitor.”

Justin sighed and looked down for a moment, then back at the camera.

“I am not proud at what I helped Alynna Nechayev do. I guess I never cared about much, Starfleet or the Federation or anything. She was the only family I had, and I had nothing else, so I followed her.”

“She told me one time that she saw ice and steel in me, and that’s why she shared all her secrets with me, brought me into all of it. I guess the ice thawed – Kathryn thawed it. I love her, I do. I don’t know that I am any good for her, but I love her. I this recording is all that I ever get to say about my life and work with Alynna Nechayev, then I want to make one thing clear. I am telling my story to try and be worthy of Kathryn. I hope I will be one day.”

Justin reached to turn off the comm, and the recording stopped.


	10. Chapter 10

Owen Paris’s head was pounding as he walked out of the office where he’s watched the decades-old “confessions” of Edward Janeway and Justin Tighe. What he would have given for an analgesic … or a bottle of Scotch.

“Edward loved a good Scotch,” he thought to himself as he wandered back to the lab where he assumed Erick Greene would be.

Then Owen stopped and leaned against a wall, bringing the heels of his hands to cover his eyes.

Justin Tighe was Alynna Nechayev’s nephew. 

Alynna was Justin’s aunt.

Owen’s mind went in circles, repeating those statements over and over. It was as though his mind couldn’t accept that information as truth, but also could not reject it.

Justin Tighe was Alynna Nechayev’s nephew, and she *assigned* him to infiltrate the Al-Batani in order to develop a romantic relationship with Kathryn Janeway.

Owen dropped his hands and stared at the floor. He remembered how pleased he had been to have the Ranger onboard when the mission started, especially one with direct, albeit unfortunate, Cardassian experience. It would be good to have someone with his skill set and background on board if anything went wrong with the undercover part of their trip.

And when it did go wrong, how relieved Owen had felt that Justin had been there to lead a rescue! Owen remembered the incredible gratitude he had felt when they all made it back to the Al-Batani, the sincere and heartfelt thanks he had given Justin over and over for making is possible for Owen to see his family once again.

Now, to know it had not only been a ruse, it had been a sadistic plan of Nechayev’s to get to Katie ….

“How did Edward not kill that guy when he found out?” Owen wondered. For the millionth time in just a few days, Owen desperately wished he could talk to his friend one last time and get an explanation.

“Admiral Paris?”

Owen saw Erick Greene coming through the door from the lab.

“Admiral, are you all right?” Greene asked cautiously.

Paris nodded and replied, “I am. I guess so. Yes, I am okay.”

Owen stood up from the wall and walked towards the Section 31 agent.

“You watched the ‘confessions,’ Greene?” Owen asked.

“Yes, sir,” Greene replied. “I was with Admiral Liu when they were decrypted. It was … it was quite surprising to find out certain things.”

“Damned surprising,” Owen muttered as they approached the door to the lab.

But Greene stopped and motioned for Owen to wait before going back in.

“After we watched the ‘confessions,’ Admiral Liu had me pull all the information I could find on the crash of the Terra Nova on Tau Ceti Prime,” he said.

Owen nodded and replied, “He is wondering the same thing I am, if Alynna had Edward and Justin killed.”

Greene nodded.

“Well?” Owen asked. When Greene didn’t respond, Owen sighed impatiently and said, “Greene, I am not in the mood for Section 31 secrecy and shit. Just tell me, she had them killed, didn’t she? Alynna Nechayev killed her own flesh and blood, and she killed my best friend, in order to cover her own actions.”

Greene replied, “Well, that’s the thing. We don’t believe she did.”

Owen stared at Greene in disbelief.

“We checked all the records of the crash, it seems completely accidental. You know that the official report on the accident said there was an problem with the power transfer conduits that made the engine and all the onboard systems lose power at once. What you didn’t know – what no one outside of the then-Fleet Admiral’s office knew – was that there was a design flaw in the components Admiral Janeway used. His design was fine, but the materials were not. The faulty components were used in three other experimental shuttle designs, but they had not been taken for long-range testing yet when the Terra Nova crashed. When the components were pulled from those shuttles, Starfleet discovered they would have met the same fate. There was no way Admiral Nechayev could have sabotaged those components with the intent of harming Edward Janeway and Justin Tighe, the design containing the flaw was developed a full two years before their accident.”

Greene took a deep breath. He had apparently felt very nervous at the thought of telling Owen Paris that his friends’ accident was just that – an accident.

Owen’s shoulders sagged and he shook his head.

“You mean she had nothing to do with it? That Edward and Justin dying right before they were going to expose her was just … it was just dumb luck?” he asked dumbfounded.

“We can find no evidence to the contrary,” Greene replied. “And you should know, Section 31 investigated that accident along with Starfleet Security. There were many eyes on those reports, and as best anyone can tell, it was a terrible, terrible accident.”

Owen crossed his arms and stared at the floor.

“It’s actually hard to believe that,” he said quietly. “But if it means I don’t have to tell Gretchen and Katie that Edward and Justin were actually murdered … I guess I can live with it.”

Owen sighed again and glanced at a chronometer on the wall.

“Damn, it’s late,” he said. “Have Admiral Janeway and Captain Chakotay left? Are they done for the night?”

“They are done. Captain Chakotay left about an hour ago, Admiral Janeway about half an hour ago.”

Owen nodded and said, “I think I’ll head back to my office for a bit … look at a couple of things … I don’t know … before I go home. Good night, Commander Greene.”

“Good night, sir,” Greene replied, and he watched the older man walk slowly away. 

******

**_Excerpt from “The Art and Practice of Romance,” Chapter 36_ **

_Owen Paris was in his office reading recent intelligence reports about the Obsidian Order. He had read them before, but he read them again looking for … something. He didn’t really know._

_“Nechayev is going to resign,” said a voice from the doorway._

_Owen, not looking up from his padd, asked “No jail time?”_

_Admiral Liu sat in a chair along the wall._

_“No,” he replied. “She is going to spend several months in protective custody with us, of course, as we learn everything there is to know about her history with the Obsidian Order.”_

_Liu was quiet for a moment, then said, “Thank you for locating the data chip.”_

_Owen looked at him and answered, “You’re welcome.”_

_Liu tilted his head and regarded Admiral Paris._

_“I take it you reviewed the contents of the chip.”_

_Owen let the padd fall to his desk, and he ran his hand over his eyes._

_“Of course, I did,” he replied, sounding tired._

_Liu nodded, then asked, “You read the ‘Evla’ files?”_

_“Yes,” Owen replied._

_“You watched the ‘confessions’?” Liu asked._

_Paris sighed and said, “Yes. And it was like going back in time.”_

_The men sat in silence for a little while longer, then Liu asked, “Do you intend to tell anyone? Kathryn Janeway? Her mother?”_

_Owen looked at him and said sharply, “What good would that do?”_

_“I have no idea,” Liu admitted. “But you knew everyone involved in this. Are you sure you want to carry the burden yourself?”_

_“I don’t necessarily *want* to, but I will do it,” Owen replied. “For Kathryn and Gretchen, this will be my burden.”_

_Liu nodded and stood up._

_“Thank you for your help with this, Admiral,” he said. “I wish you and your family the best.” And he left._

_Owen stood up and walked to his window. He truly didn’t believe there was anything to be gained by telling the Janeway women what had been on that chip._

_“The past is over,” he said to himself, thinking of how Kathryn had finally moved beyond hers and found happiness, at long last._

_“The past is dead. Let it remain so.”_

\------------

**_Excerpt from “The Art and Practice of Romance,” Chapter 38_ **

_Owen asked, “Where did Chakotay go? Kathryn, I need to speak with you, your mother, and Chakotay, for just a moment. There’s nothing to worry about, I just need to discuss something with you.”_

_Gretchen smiled and asked, “What do you need, Owen?”_

_“I need the three of you to come to Headquarters tomorrow, possibly for the entire day. There’s a hearing for Alynna tomorrow – just a formality, but they want to hear from me, the three of you, and Admiral Liu. At the end of the hearing, Alynna will be allowed to retire, and then she will become an uncompensated ‘consultant’ to Section 31. So long as she proves useful to them, she will receive her retirement benefits. If they determine she is holding back on them, or is feeding them false information, her retirement will be cancelled and she will face a full court martial.”_

_Owen paused for a moment and looked in the direction Tom and B’Elanna had walked a few minutes before._

_“It’s not prison,” he sighed, “but for Alynna, it will be pretty damned close. And if she honors her end of the agreement, Starfleet ought to be able to flush out any lingering elements of the Obsidian Order. That would be a very good thing.”_

_Kathryn, Chakotay, and Gretchen all exchanged glances. Chakotay said, “It’s probably as good a deal as we are going to see. If she goes to prison, Starfleet will have provide a number of explanations to the public. I can’t image they want to do that.”_

_“They don’t,” Owen affirmed. “How about you three meet me at my office at 0730? We’ll grab some breakfast then go to the hearing rooms.”_

_“We’ll be there,” Gretchen replied firmly._

_Kathryn shrugged and said, “I guess we’ll be there, then. See you in the morning, Owen.” And she shut off the comm._

_\------------_

_On Monday, they all spent the day at Starfleet Headquarters. The day went pretty much as Owen predicted. They all offered testimony – Gretchen’s in particular, was very important. Even though everyone had been told that the data on the “red filly” left by Edward Janeway was irrevocably corrupted, Gretchen’s testimony reinforced the timeline that Starfleet and Section 31 were trying to establish, demonstrating that Nechayev’s improper dealings with the Cardassisans had been going on for decades._

_The resolution, though, was a little different from what they expected. Alynna Nechayev *had* been allowed to retire, but not before she was reduced in rank to Captain. She would never be known as Admiral Nechayev again._

_Watching Alynna absorb the news of her demotion, Kathryn thought she had never seen the woman look smaller – or less powerful._

_When the hearing closed at the end of the day, several people stood around talking. Kathryn and Chakotay were listening to Admiral Hayes thank Gretchen for her assistance, when the three heard a familiar, unpleasant voice say, “Excuse me.”_

_They turned to see the somewhat chastened face of Commander Erick Greene._

_“Admiral Hayes, I am sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to express my sincere apologies to Admiral Janeway and Captain Chakotay. I had no idea that Admiral – I’m sorry, Captain Nechayev was doing any of that. I deeply regret any role I played in putting your lives in danger.”_

_Kathryn and Chakotay glanced at each other, unsure of what to say._

_Then Greene added, “And I wanted to congratulate you on your engagement and wish you the best.”_

_Chakotay, recovering before Kathryn, replied, “Thank you very much Commander, we appreciate it.”_

_With a nod at Admiral Hayes, Greene turned and left. Kathryn and Chakotay turned back to Gretchen and Hayes._

_Kathryn shook her head and said, “I still think he’s an asshole.”_

******

As the small hearing room cleared out, Owen Paris saw Erick Greene speak briefly to Gretchen, Kathryn, and Chakotay. He saw the disgust in Katie’s eyes as Greene walked away.

She would never know what the Lieutenant had done for her, for all of them.

Owen followed Greene into the hallway and caught up with him at the lift.

“Greene, I don’t know that I will get the chance to say this to you …,” he began.

“You won’t,” Greene replied sharply as he looked around the deserted hallway. “Now that Nechayev is done, I am off to some other assignment, which I will be briefed about as soon as I leave here. And remember what I told you Admiral, of how I would need to act if I ever saw you in public again.”

Owen nodded and said, “I remember. But I need you to know how much I appreciate what you did. You saved my son and daughter-in-law, you saved Katie and Chakotay, you saved all of them. If all I can do is give you my gratitude, I would like to do that.”

And he stuck out his hand to shake Greene’s. Greene slowly accepted it.

“I want you to know, if he were here, Edward Janeway would be thanking you, too. Justin Tighe probably would, too.”

Greene nodded slightly in acknowledgement. The door to the lift opened, and Greene got in.

“One thing, though, Lieutenant,” Owen said suddenly. “You said that one of the reasons you wanted to save everyone was because Chakotay and the Maquis saved someone important to you. Could I ask … who did they save?”

But Greene didn’t answer. He just smiled sadly as the doors closed.


	11. Chapter 11

“Of course, you understand why I had to do it.”

Lieutenant Erick Greene was sitting across from Admiral Kevin Liu in Liu’s office at Section 31 headquarters. 

Liu sighed and said, “Greene, it was damned irresponsible of you, and you know it. All those years you spent with Nechayev gathering information … you risked it all because you were feeling emotional. We don’t have room for that kind of crap here.”

“I risked it all because you weren’t moving quickly enough,” Greene retorted. “You would have been content to sit back and allow all of them to die and use that as evidence. But it wasn’t necessary. I proved that.”

Liu sat back in his chair and regarded the younger man.

“I decide what is necessary,” he said evenly.

Greene said nothing in response.

Liu nodded at surveillance footage playing on his comm and asked, “What did Paris want to talk to you about after the hearing?"

“He wanted to say ‘thank you,’” Greene answered.

“Anything else?” Liu persisted.

Greene met his eyes and said, “He wanted to know who it was that Chakotay and the Maquis saved that mattered so much to me.”

Liu nodded quietly for a moment.

“Did you tell him?” he asked.

Greene rolled his eyes and said, “Of course not. It wouldn’t have made much sense to him if I had.”

He then walked over to the window and looked towards Starfleet Headquarters. He stood there silently.

Liu stood up and walked towards him.

“You know, when we pulled you out of the Terra Nova all those years ago, we were giving you a chance to make a difference. Most people would have been grateful. You are just pissed. It’s all you ever have been.”

Greene rounded on Liu, anger on his face.

“You should have let me die. Better yet, you should have let me live – you should never have touched that shuttle, never have let Edward Janeway die. You should have allowed Edward to expose Alynna and let us live our lives as they should have been. You murdered one of the finest officers I have ever know, you murdered the real Erick Greene, and you murdered me.”

When Liu said nothing in response, Greene stepped away from him.

“You know, I still remember the look on Edward’s face when you transported me out. From the window in the shuttle, we had seen Kathryn pass out trying to put together her transporter device, so he knew it wasn’t her. I wonder what he thought when he saw Erick Greene’s corpse, altered to look like me, appear next to him. I wonder if he knew that he was dying at the hand of Section 31, people who were supposed to be on the same side as he. Or if he thought I betrayed him, that I somehow planned it with Aunt Alynna.”

“We didn’t think we needed him,” Liu finally said.

“But you *did* need him, didn’t you?” Greene taunted. “Because I had no idea where he had hidden his evidence. I didn’t know a damn thing about his ‘fillies’ or Owen Paris’s information, all those dots had to be connected later. And you had to invest decades getting me into position with Alynna. How many people did she kill in the mean time? How much damage did she do?”

Liu shook his head impatiently and said, “I am not having this argument with you again. We did what we thought was best at the time.”

“The road to hell, Admiral,” Greene said with a humorless laugh.

“Yes, well,” Liu responded with a sigh. He returned to his desk chair and looked back up at Greene.

“You know, both Section 31 and Alynna Nechayev gave you the opportunity to pursue Kathryn Janeway. You charmed her 20 years ago as Justin, you could have done the same as Erick. Why did you choose to antagonize her instead?”

Greene looked at Liu in disbelief. 

“Kathryn went to hell and back more than once. She finally found happiness. I wasn’t going to try and ruin that.”

Liu shook his head and replied, “She’s been with Captain Chakotay for only a few months, I told you to go after her as soon as Voyager returned, you could have pre-empted that supposed ‘happiness’ she has now ….”  
  
“I’m not talking about their relationship on Earth, I am talking about the happiness she found with Chakotay on Voyager. He saved her out there. He gave her back whatever it was she lost when I agreed to live out *your* lie after Tau Ceti Prime. He gave her more than I ever could have. I ruined her life once, I wasn’t going to do it again, not for my Aunt Alynna or Section 31.”

Greene and Liu stared at one another for a moment. Liu finally broke the eye contact.

“We need to discuss your next assignment,” the Admiral said as he motioned for Greene to sit. “Do you have any preferences?”

Greene sighed, thinking about how Kathryn Janeway had looked at him earlier in the day, and how he had seen her look at Chakotay in all the surveillance footage Section 31 had of her.

He was grateful to Chakotay and the Maquis, he really was. But the love Kathryn had for Chakotay – apparently far greater than what she had felt for him when he was still Justin Tighe – was a knife in his chest.

“Get me as far away from Earth as possible,” Greene replied without emotion.

Liu nodded. He could make that happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told you that Section 31 wasn't the "good guys."
> 
> Up next -- expanding the honeymoon chapter in "Art and Practice ...," commenters were right, there should be more there.


End file.
